ISIS claims attack on Spanish embassy in Libya

A bomb exploded outside Spain’s embassy in the Libyan capital on Monday night without causing injuries, a security source told Agence France-Presse, an attack later claimed by ISIS.

“Islamic State extremists concealed an explosive device near an exterior wall of the Spanish embassy building in Tripoli, which caused some material damage to it and to neighboring buildings,” local official Issam Naas told AFP using another name for ISIS.

Several accounts linked to the Libyan branch of ISIS claimed the attack on Twitter.

Spain’s El Mundo newspaper said nobody had been hurt as Spain, like most Western and Arab countries, had pulled out its diplomats in summer during weeks of heavy fighting between rival armed groups in Tripoli.

ISIS, which has seized chunks of Syria and Iraq, has won the support of jihadist groups across Middle East and North Africa. Several militant groups in conflict-wracked Libya have pledged allegiance to the militants.

Libya has been awash with weapons since an uprising in 2011, has rival governments and parliaments and is on the edge of all-out war as armed groups battle to control its cities and oil wealth.

(With Reuters and AFP)