Islamic State (IS) militants on Friday unleashed suicide bombings in eastern Libya, killing at least 40 people in what the group said was retaliation for Egyptian airstrikes against the militants aggressive new branch in North Africa.
The bombings in the town of Qubba, which is controlled by Libya’s internationally recognized government, solidified concerns the extremist group has spread beyond the battlefields of Iraq and Syria and established a foothold less than 805km from the southern tip of Italy.
The militants have taken over at least two Libyan coastal cities on the Mediterranean — Sirte and Darna, which is about 30km from Qubba.
They released a video on Sunday that showed the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians who were abducted in Sirte, and Egypt responded on Monday with airstrikes on Darna.
The Islamic State group, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has established its presence in Libya by exploiting the country’s breakdown since former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi was ousted and killed in 2011.
Hundreds of militias have taken power since then, and some of them have militant ideologies.
A militia coalition known as Libya Dawn has taken over Tripoli, where they set up their own parliament and government. Muslim extremist militias controlled the second-largest city of Benghazi until late last year, when army troops began battling them for control.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Friday’s suicide bombings in Qubba, but said there were only two attacks, while the government said there were three.
Army spokesman Mohammed Hegazi said one attacker rammed an explosives-packed ambulance into a gas station where motorists were lined up.
“Imagine a car packed with a large amount of explosives striking a gas station; the explosion was huge and many of the injured are in very bad shape while the victims’ bodies were torn into pieces,” Hegazi said.
Two other bombers detonated vehicles next to the house of the parliament speaker and the nearby security headquarters, he said.
Government spokesman Mohammed Bazaza put the death toll at 40, with at least 70 injured.
The number of dead was expected to rise.
Two security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists, said that at least 45 had been killed.
Among the dead were six Egyptians working at a cafe next to the gas station.
Video broadcast from the scene showed dozens of cars wrecked and ablaze, with pools of blood on the asphalt, along with body parts, shoes and shattered glass.
Bodies covered in sheets were lined up nearby. The government and parliament announced a week of mourning.
“This terrorist, cowardly and desperate attack only increases our determination to uproot terrorism in Libya and in the region,” Bazaza said, adding that Libyan air force jets conducted several airstrikes, without specifying where.
Witnesses in the city of Sirte said it was hit by multiple Libyan airstrikes on Friday, targeting a convention center that is used as a headquarters by the Islamic State group.
US Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington condemned the attacks in Qubba.
As violence has escalated dramatically across the country since summer last year, hundreds of thousands of Libyans have been displaced and entire cities and towns have been left in ruins.
Muslim militias, including the Islamic State, are battling government forces for control of Benghazi in eastern Libya.
The Tripoli-based government, which is partially supported by Muslim factions and militias from the western city of Misrata, continued to deny the presence of an Islamic State affiliate in Libya.
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