A Libyan affiliate of the Islamic State group yesterday claimed responsibility for an attack on a Tripoli luxury hotel that killed 10 people, including an American and four Europeans.
The group called “Islamic State in Tripoli Province” said it launched Tuesday’s attack to avenge the death of Abu Anas al-Libi, who was indicted in a US federal court over his alleged role in the 1998 al-Qaeda bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Al-Libi was snatched off a street in Tripoli by US special forces in 2013 and died in US custody on Jan. 2 due to complications from liver surgery.
Photo: Reuters
The group identified the attackers as Abu Ibrahim al-Tunsi and Abu Suleiman al-Sudani, noms de guerre that suggest the attackers were Tunisian and Sudanese.
The claim of responsibility was dated on Tuesday while it was posted yesterday on jihadi forums.
“The operation is not the last one on the lands of Tripoli… Let the enemies of God, the crusaders and their allies await what would harm them,” the message read.
The affiliate previously claimed responsibility for a recent attack on the Algerian embassy that wounded three guards. It also previously posted pictures before for its men touring markets and distributing pamphlets.
Yesterday’s posting matched previous messages released by the group.
The attack on Tuesday targeted the seaside Corinthia Hotel and also killed five guards.
Two attackers were killed following an hours-long standoff that included a car bombing.
A senior US Department of State official confirmed that a US citizen was among those killed.
Cliff Taylor, the chief executive of a Virginia security company, Crucible LLC, identified the slain American as David Berry, a contractor with his company.
The online message said that those killed were American, French, South Korean and Filipino.
Earlier, Essam al-Naasa, a spokesman for a Tripoli security agency, said the dead included an American, a French citizen and three others from the former Soviet Union.
The hotel assault highlights the growing threat from militant groups that operate with near impunity in Libya, a nation torn between rival governments, tribes and militias since the 2011 toppling of former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.
The nation’s post-Qaddafi transition has collapsed, with two rival governments and parliaments — each backed by different militias — ruling in the nation’s eastern and western regions.
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 nation’s east, where a former general has waged an offensive against Islamic militias, including Ansar al-Shariah, blamed for the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi that killed US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
The Malta-owned Corinthia Hotel, among the most luxurious in Tripoli, is also where the UN support mission in Libya usually holds its meetings. The mission is currently hosting political talks with rival Libyan groups in Geneva, Switzerland.
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 US delegation.
The militia-backed government in Tripoli said the attack’s target was Libyan 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.
The UN Security Council condemned the attack “in the strongest terms” and urged all nations to help bring “the perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice.”
The council also urged all parties in Libya “to engage constructively” with UN envoy Bernardino Leon and resume “an inclusive political process.”
The Corinthia also came under attack in 2013 when gunmen abducted then-prime minister Ali Zeidan, who was then living there. He was released several hours later.
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