* Three car bombs explode near interior, security facilities
* Authorities say arrest 32 Gaddafi loyalists linked to
blast
* Violence remains problem for new leadership
By Taha Zargoun
TRIPOLI, Aug 19 (Reuters) – Three car bombs exploded near
interior ministry and security buildings in the Libyan capital
on Sunday, killing at least two people in attacks authorities
blamed on supporters of the country’s deposed leader Muammar
Gaddafi.
Libyan security officials said they had arrested 32 members
of an organised network of Gaddafi loyalists linked to the
attacks, which took place on the eve of the anniversary of the
fall of Tripoli to rebel fighters.
Ambulances and firefighters rushed to the scenes of Sunday’s
blasts in residential areas in central Tripoli, and large
numbers of police were deployed to cordon off the sites and
remove the charred vehicles and other debris.
They were the first fatal attacks of their kind since a
revolt led to Gaddafi’s overthrow and death last year after 42
years in power.
The first bomb blew up near the interior ministry’s
administrative offices in Tripoli but caused no casualties,
security sources told Reuters. On arriving at the site, police
found another car bomb that had not blown up.
Minutes later, two car bombs exploded near the former
headquarters of a women’s police academy, which the defence
ministry has been using for interrogations and detentions, the
sources said, k il ling two civilians and wounding three.
“The (victims) were two young men in their 20s. They drove
past the police academy precisely at the time of the explosion,”
a security source said.
The blasts, which caused minor damage to the buildings and
shattered windows of nearby cars and buildings, took place early
in the day as worshippers prepared for mass morning prayers
marking Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim celebration that marks the end
of the fasting month Ramadan.
The 32 people were arrested after security forces raided
several locations in and around Tripoli, tipped off by what a
security official said were leads from “closed-circuit street
cameras and intelligence.”
The official, from the Supreme Security Committee that has
been supervising security matters since Gaddafi’s fall, told
Reuters connections between the group and the attacks “have been
established”.
The latest attacks will test the mettle of the national
assembly, which made improving security a priority when it
assumed control this month from the National Transitional
Council of opposition forces that toppled Gaddafi.
Its main task will be containing numerous armed groups,
mostly militias who took part in the uprising, who refuse to lay
down their weapons. Disarming them remains a challenge.
The 200-member assembly will name a new prime minister who
will pick his government, pass laws and steer Libya to full
parliamentary elections after a new constitution is drafted next
year.
Persistent instability has affected Libya’s relations with
other countries and international organizations whose help it
needs in its drive for stability, security and economic
reconstruction.
The International Committee of the Red Cross suspended its
activities in Benghazi, Libya’s second biggest city, and Misrata
after one of its compounds in Misrata was attacked with grenades
and rockets.
The fate of seven Iranian relief workers, official guests
of the Libyan Red Crescent Association, remains unknown almost
three weeks after they were kidnapped by gunmen in the heart of
Benghazi.
