Libyan election commission attacked, 12 killed

BENGHAZI, LIBYA — A suicide bomber and other militants attacked Libya’s election commission in the capital on Wednesday, killing at least 12 people in what appeared to be an attempt to disrupt a vote planned for later this year.

The suicide bomber blew himself up inside the building in central Tripoli, while other militants set fire to it, Health Ministry spokeswoman Wedad Abu Niran told The Associated Press. Videos posted on social media showed thick black smoke billowing from the building, and security forces engaging in a gun battle with militants.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the raid, which the ministry said in a statement killed 12 and wounded seven. Islamic extremists in Libya are opposed to democratic elections and have targeted them in other countries.

“(It) is a clear manifestation of everything that is wrong with the current short-sighted narrative of fake security and ‘progress,’” said Hanan Salah of Human Rights Watch in a post on social media. Her group has underlined how elections will be difficult while Libya remains dominated by a patchwork of armed groups who continue extrajudicial killings, property confiscation, forced disappearances, arbitrary detention and torture.

Foreign embassies, observers and other institutions promptly condemned the attack as an attempt to undermine stability in Libya as it heads toward its general election later this year. The U.N. mission to Libya said that violence “will not deter Libyans from moving forward in the process of establishing national unity and the rule of law and institutions.”