Suicide bomber blasts Libya checkpoint, killing 7
A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a security checkpoint outside eastern Libya's restive city of Benghazi overnight, killing at least seven people, witnesses and security sources said yesterday.
The blast left body parts strewn around the area, said Moetez al-Agouri, a police officer at the post, and the death toll was likely to rise.
"Seven bodies among the victims have been identified but some other bodies were torn to pieces by the explosion," said Agouri, who was working at the checkpoint at the time but escaped injury.
Eight people including civilians were wounded in the attack on the checkpoint 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Benghazi and were taken to hospital in the nearby town of Tokra, Agouri said.
A witness told AFP the explosion had left a large crater in the ground.
The security post's chief, Fraj al-Abdelli, who was wounded in the attack, said the checkpoint had received several threats since arresting four people in November who were carrying weapons, explosives, money and a hit-list.
He said a police convoy transporting the suspects to a Benghazi barracks after their arrest came under attack as it entered the city.
Four soldiers were killed and three wounded in that attack, he said.
Benghazi, the cradle of the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi, has seen a series of attacks in recent months that have killed more than 300 people.
On Friday, the head of military intelligence in Benghazi was shot dead during a visit to his family in nearby Derna.
And a day before, a man was killed in an explosion in his car in Tobruk, in the first attack of its kind in the city close to the border with Egypt.
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