France vows embassy attackers will pay
France promised that those behind Tuesday's devastating car bomb attack on its embassy in Libya -- which wounded a girl living nearby and two guards -- would pay for the attack.
"The terrorists who wanted to attack France and Libya and undermine the friendship between them will pay" for the attack, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned.
He was speaking shortly after having visited the wrecked embassy in Tripoli in the hours following the bombing.
Libya's authorities had pledged to track down and punish the "terrorists" behind this "cowardly" attack, he added. Standing at his side was Libya's Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel Aziz, who earlier had also condemned the "terrorist act".
French President Francois Hollande also called on Tripoli to act quickly to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Tripoli's security chief Mahmud al-Sherif said the blast occurred when a car parked outside the mission's front door exploded at 7:10 am (0510 GMT). It had not been a suicide bombing, he added.
A French source said one guard was seriously wounded and another lightly hurt in the attack on the mission, housed in a two-storey villa in the upmarket Gargaresh area. Libya's state news agency Lana added that a girl living in the neighbourhood had also been hurt.
The blast knocked down the wall surrounding the property and caused extensive damage to the embassy.
It created a deep crater in the street, destroyed two cars parked nearby, damaged two neighbouring villas and blew out the windows of a shop 200 metres (yards) away.
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