TRIPOLI, Libya In the latest sign of Libya's descent into
chaos, gunmen stormed a luxury hotel used by diplomats and businessmen in the
capital Tuesday, killing 10 people, including an American, a French citizen and
three people from Asia.
Two attackers were killed following an
hourslong standoff that included a car bomb that exploded in the parking lot of
the seaside Corinthia Hotel. It was unclear if other gunmen were involved in
the attack, which also killed five Libyan guards.
Twitter posts and a statement on social
media purported to say a Tripoli affiliate of the Islamic State group was
behind the attack. However, there was little evidence outside of that to back
up the claims in a country awash in armed extremist groups who would be equally
suspect.
The SITE Intelligence Group, a
U.S.-based militant monitoring group, reported that the two dead gunmen were
identified online as sympathizers of the Islamic State group and said they
targeted the hotel because it houses diplomatic missions and
"crusader" security companies. However, The Associated Press was
unable to independently confirm the claims, which didn't conform with the
group's earlier postings from Libya.
Militants claiming the attack on behalf
of a group called the Islamic State of the Tripoli Province posted a brief
video showing burned cars in the hotel's parking lot and said it was to avenge
the 2013 abduction by American commandos of a Libyan al-Qaida operative, Nazih
Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, also known as Abu Anas al-Libi. Al-Libi died earlier this
month in a New York hospital of complications from liver surgery while awaiting
trial for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
The hotel assault highlights the
growing threat from militant groups that operate with near impunity in Libya, a
country torn between rival governments, tribes and militias since the 2011
toppling and killing of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The country's post-Gadhafi
transition has collapsed, with two rival governments and parliaments — each
backed by different militias — ruling in the country's eastern and western
regions.
Amid the bloody political rivalry,
multiple armed groups have emerged, including radical Islamic militias who have
pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, including one based in the
eastern city of Derna, a stronghold of radical groups.
Tripoli, controlled by Islamic
militiamen mostly from the western city of Misrata since the summer, has been
hit with a series of car bombs and shootings. The internationally recognized
government has been forced to relocate to the country's east, where a former
general has waged an offensive against Islamic militias, including Ansar
al-Shariah, blamed for the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in
Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
A senior U.S. State Department official
confirmed that a U.S. citizen was among those killed in Tuesday's attack, but
did not provide further details. Cliff Taylor, the CEO of a Virginia security
company, Crucible LLC, identified the slain American as David Berry, a
contractor with his company.
A French national and three citizens of
a former Soviet republic also were killed, said Essam al-Naasa, a spokesman for
a Tripoli security agency.
The Malta-owned Corinthia Hotel, among
the most luxurious in Tripoli, is also where the United Nations support mission
in Libya usually holds its meetings. The mission is currently hosting political
talks with rival Libyan groups in Geneva.
The hotel had Italian, British and
Turkish guests but was largely empty at the time of the attack, hotel staff
members said. There was also a visiting American delegation.
The militia-backed government in
Tripoli said the attack's target was Prime Minister Omar al-Hassi, who normally
resides at the hotel but was not there at the time. Spokesman Amr Baiou told
journalists al-Hassi was unharmed.
A security official in Tripoli, Omar
al-Khadrawi, said initial investigations pointed to a group of former Gadhafi
loyalists being behind the assault.
Reports about how the attack unfolded
conflicted and it was not possible to reconcile the different accounts.
Hotel staffers initially said that five
masked gunmen stormed the Corinthia and fired randomly at the staff in the
lobby as guests fled out the hotel's back doors into the parking lot.
One staffer said a car bomb exploded in
the parking lot after a protection force entered the lobby and opened fire on
the gunmen. Two guards were immediately killed, said one staffer, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because he feared being targeted by militants.
Al-Naas said after a several-hour
standoff, the attackers threw a grenade at the security forces on the hotel's
24th floor, killing themselves and a security guard. Ten people were wounded in
the attack, including security guards and guests, he said.
"The operation is over,"
al-Naas said. He said an investigation was underway and the car used by the
gunmen is believed to be the same one used in an assault on the Algerian
Embassy 10 days ago that wounded three guards.
The U.N. Security Council condemned the
attack "in the strongest terms" and urged all countries to help bring
"the perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these
reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice." In a statement approved by
all 15 members, the council also urged all parties in Libya "to engage
constructively" with U.N. envoy Bernardino Leon and resume "an
inclusive political process aimed at addressing the political and security
challenges" facing Libya.
The Corinthia previously came under
attack in 2013 when gunmen abducted then-Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, who was
living there. He was released several hours later.
Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb
in Cairo, Bradley Klapper and Matthew Lee in Washington and Edith M. Leder at
the United Nations contributed to this report.
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