© Reuters / Hani AmaraBurned cars near Libya's Foreign Ministry after suicide attacks on December 25, 2018
Three armed gunmen stormed the foreign ministry of Libya's internationally recognized government in Tripoli on Tuesday morning, killing three employees and injuring at least ten others. Later in the day, the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack, through its propaganda outlet.
The assault on the diplomatic compound began at around 9:30am with the detonation of a car bomb in front of the building. Immediately afterwards the gunmen opened fire and two of them managed to get inside and blow themselves up. The third attacker was killed in the gunfire exchange with the ministry guards.
Libya has been in a state of chaos and turmoil since 2011, when a NATO bombing campaign helped militants overthrow and assassinate Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Ever since then the extremists have exploited the power vacuum, with sporadic clashes breaking out between various factions throughout the country and in the nation's capital, Tripoli. Currently, Libya has two rival governments and a plan to hold a presidential election this year was postponed due to the continuing power struggle.
The US, which had supported armed extremists against Gaddafi's government but has since appeared uninterested in the fractured state's fate, condemned the attack, somewhat ironically, stressing that it supports Libya's struggle against terrorism as the country continues to "work towards a prosperous, stable, and secure" future.
Comment: So Trump recently declared the withdrawal of US troops from Syria, shortly after repeated US airstrikes in the region, and yet visits troops in Iraq on 26th December saying that they'll be staying in Iraq because "we could use this as the base if we wanted to do something in Syria". Meanwhile, their partner in crime, Israel, ramps up their belligerence towards Lebanon; Afghanistan suffers a surge of incursions by the Taliban, Libya from attacks by ISIS; the US & UK backed Saudi's continue their war on Yemen, and the Western-backed neo-Nazi's in Ukraine threaten to provoke Russia, again, in the Kerch strait.
With this relentless Western-linked chaos creation, is it any wonder Russia is celebrating the successful launch of their Avangard weapon system??
See also: Russia has a roadmap for Libya - Another noble Gaddafi