Car Bomb Explodes Outside French Embassy in Libya Leaving Three Wounded

A car bomb exploded outside the French Embassy in Libya on Tuesday. According to reports, the bomb took off the front wall of the embassy along with its reception area, wounding two guards and a Libyan teenager.

  

It set fire at the embassy’s entrance which engulfed some offices, and wounded a Libyan girl who was having breakfast in a nearby house, according to a post by Deputy Prime Minister Awad al-Barassi on his Facebook page.

So far, no individual or group has taken responsibility for the attack after the blast occurred early in the morning. But, al-Qaeda’s AQIM threatened to retaliate for the French intervention in Mali just recently.

In the past, there have been several attacks on diplomatic missions in Benghazi, but this attack was the first since the civil war ended with Moammar Gadhafi’s death. The US Ambassador in Libya Chris Stevens, along with a few other Americans, was killed when militants attacked the U.S. diplomatic mission in the eastern city on September 11.

Clearly, France has been a major ally of the Libyan government and such an assault was seen by many as equal in impact as the killing of Ambassador Stevens. The lawlessness in Benghazi prompted U.S., Britain and many others to evacuate the city of their citizens and close their missions.

A senior research fellow at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations in Paris, Karim Bitar, told reporters that it is the first time that the capital suffers such an attack. He stressed that it is symbolically important because it is where institutions are. He added that it is a message that such groups can strike pretty much anywhere.

In an article of The Monitor, the following was written: ’’French President Francois Hollande condemned the act, saying it was an attack not just against France but ‘all countries in the international community engaged in fighting terrorism.’ It is unclear what the motive was and whether there is a link to France’s intervention in Mali or its ouster of the late Mr. [Moammar Gadhafi].

Libya is struggling to maintain security and build a unified army two years after the country’s civil war. Libyans have been carrying out protests, demanding that authorities label all militias as illegal groups. They want the militia commanders and their soldiers to be integrated into the army since loyalty strongly exists between commanders and their fighters as a group.

Lawmaker Tawfiq Breik of the National Forces Alliance explained that the number one party benefitting from the attacks is the militias and extremists for any step the country takes, the attacks drag them back.

 In his own words, he stressed that the message to the outside world is that Libya is slipping into terrorism. He added that the goal is to empty the capital of foreign and diplomatic missions like Benghazi and that the big loser is the Libya people if no decisive measures are taken.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was to travel to Tripoli later on Tuesday to assess the situation and return home with the two wounded French guards, at Hollande’s request.