[h=3]By AYMAN AL-KEKLY in Tripoli, MARGARET COKER in Abu Dhabi and INTI LANDAURO in Paris[/h] TRIPOLI—Security officials were investigating what Libyan officials said was a car bomb that exploded in front of the French Embassy in downtown Tripoli, injuring two French guards and destroying much of the diplomatic compound.
Reuters People stand among debris outside the French embassy in Tripoli after the building was attacked Tuesday.
The explosion, which crushed the external walls surrounding the compound and was powerful enough to destroy vehicles and shatter windows for several blocks, occurred before normal office hours, around 7:30 a.m., according to neighbors and witnesses. The timing appears to have minimized the loss of life, according to Libyan security officials and firefighters who rushed to the scene.
It wasn't immediately clear who was responsible for the blast, which is the first large-scale attack against foreigners in Libya since the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.
French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said one of the two French guards was "severely" injured. It wasn't immediately known where the guards were evacuated to or where they were receiving medical treatment.
France will send a team of assault-police officers as local authorities opened an investigation to find the culprits, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on French BFM TV channel. France will step up security measures around embassies in North Africa and the Middle East. The French government said that Mr. Fabius would make an emergency trip to Libya later Tuesday.
Libyan officials responded swiftly to the attack. Within minutes of the blast, firefighters were on the scene putting out blazes that stretched down the residential block. Libyan and foreign forensic teams and investigators also were combing the diplomatic compound and surrounding area for evidence.
There are about 300 French people registered in Libya, according to a foreign ministry spokesman, and French businesses have a robust presence in the North African country.
France was one of the top supporters of international intervention to aid the popular uprising against former dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Despite Paris's attempt, alongside others, to forge a reconciliation with Gadhafi during the second part of the last decade, the Libyan people have held France in high esteem for its support of their liberation struggle.
Yet, since 2012, radical militias who have coalesced in the security chaos after the Libyan revolution have targeted foreigners from several Western countries. Intelligence officials believe many of these armed groups have ties to or are sympathetic with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the North African affiliate of the terrorist organization that French forces have been fighting in Mali for much of this year.
In Tripoli, the government shut access to the area in the leafy residential neighborhood of Hay Andalous, where the French Embassy is located. At the compound itself, the blast walls surrounding the diplomatic facility were destroyed and parts of the embassy had been reduced to rubble. The French flag hanging on its pole was partially burned.
The street outside the embassy resembled a war zone, with the twisted and burned hulks of half a dozen vehicles lining the road and water pouring from broken pipes pouring into the street.
Write to Margaret Coker at [email protected] and Inti Landauro at [email protected]
Reuters People stand among debris outside the French embassy in Tripoli after the building was attacked Tuesday.
The explosion, which crushed the external walls surrounding the compound and was powerful enough to destroy vehicles and shatter windows for several blocks, occurred before normal office hours, around 7:30 a.m., according to neighbors and witnesses. The timing appears to have minimized the loss of life, according to Libyan security officials and firefighters who rushed to the scene.
It wasn't immediately clear who was responsible for the blast, which is the first large-scale attack against foreigners in Libya since the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.
French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said one of the two French guards was "severely" injured. It wasn't immediately known where the guards were evacuated to or where they were receiving medical treatment.
France will send a team of assault-police officers as local authorities opened an investigation to find the culprits, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on French BFM TV channel. France will step up security measures around embassies in North Africa and the Middle East. The French government said that Mr. Fabius would make an emergency trip to Libya later Tuesday.
Libyan officials responded swiftly to the attack. Within minutes of the blast, firefighters were on the scene putting out blazes that stretched down the residential block. Libyan and foreign forensic teams and investigators also were combing the diplomatic compound and surrounding area for evidence.
There are about 300 French people registered in Libya, according to a foreign ministry spokesman, and French businesses have a robust presence in the North African country.
France was one of the top supporters of international intervention to aid the popular uprising against former dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Despite Paris's attempt, alongside others, to forge a reconciliation with Gadhafi during the second part of the last decade, the Libyan people have held France in high esteem for its support of their liberation struggle.
Yet, since 2012, radical militias who have coalesced in the security chaos after the Libyan revolution have targeted foreigners from several Western countries. Intelligence officials believe many of these armed groups have ties to or are sympathetic with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the North African affiliate of the terrorist organization that French forces have been fighting in Mali for much of this year.
In Tripoli, the government shut access to the area in the leafy residential neighborhood of Hay Andalous, where the French Embassy is located. At the compound itself, the blast walls surrounding the diplomatic facility were destroyed and parts of the embassy had been reduced to rubble. The French flag hanging on its pole was partially burned.
The street outside the embassy resembled a war zone, with the twisted and burned hulks of half a dozen vehicles lining the road and water pouring from broken pipes pouring into the street.
Write to Margaret Coker at [email protected] and Inti Landauro at [email protected]