Tripoli: Nine killed in hotel attack, attackers detonate explosives

16:00

After being surrounded, on the 24th floor of the hotel three attackers detonated explosives on their vests. Of the nine killed, two are women.

Earlier today, armed attackers stormed a luxury hotel in the Libyan capital Tripoli, killing at least five foreigners and three guards, reports Theguardian.com, as carried by the Bosnian news agency Patria.

A car bomb exploded in front of the Corinthia Hotel, located on the Mediterranean coast. There is still no official confirmation that the attackers are members of ISIL.

The area around the hotel has been evacuated, and the masked attackers reportedly also took hostages. According to surveillance camera footage, the attackers were wearing bulletproof vests.

Italians, Britons, and Turks were among those in the hotel. The hotel was also attacked in 2013, when Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was kidnapped.

In December, the Pentagon warned that the presence of ISIL in Libya is growing and that the group has training camps in the country.