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The U.S. mission in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi was the target of a bomb attack overnight but there were no casualties or injuries, it was reported.
“There was an attack late last night on the United States office in Benghazi,” a security source told AFP, adding that nothing more than a gate was damaged in the blast. A guard was “lightly wounded” in the incident, Libyan officials said later.
A homemade bomb was used in the attack on the mission, which was set up during the 2011 revolution against former leader Moammar Gadhafi’s regime.
No groups or person, however, has thus far claimed responsibility for the attack.
Deputy Interior Minister Unis al-Sharef said that the attack may have been linked to the announcement of the killing of Abu Yahya al-Libi, considered al-Qaeda’s No. 2 man, on Tuesday in a drone strike in northern Pakistan.
“Abu Yahya al-Libi has backers in this country and this (attack) could have been carried out by them,” he was quoted as saying by AFP.
Noman Benotman, a former Libyan Islamist and now an expert on militant groups, told Reuters that “the possibility that this act took place because of what happened to Abu Yahya is, in my personal opinion, a very strong one.”
