Libya gunmen attack Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli

Militants have attacked a hotel widely known with
foreigners in Libya's capital, killing at least
three people and injuring 12 others, officials
say.

Several gunmen stormed the Corinthia Hotel in
Tripoli and opened fire in the reception area. A
car bomb also exploded outside the hotel.
Unconfirmed reports say some of the assailants
have blown themselves up and that foreigners
are among the dead.
A Twitter account linked to Islamic State said it
carried out the attack.
The claim could not be verified, and
correspondents say it is not clear if the group
has a presence in Libya.
Operation 'over'
A civilian who witnessed the attack told the
BBC: "I suddenly heard shots and saw people
running towards me, and we all escaped from
the back [of the hotel] through the underground
garage. The hotel did a lockdown after that."
The total number of attackers is not clear.
Different sources at the scene said there were
between three and five - one said that several of
the attackers have blown themselves up.
A security source told the BBC that one gunman
had been arrested.

There were also conflicting reports about the
number of fatalities.
Officials initially said three security guards had
been killed by the car bomb blast.
But a local official was later quoted by the
Reuters news agency as telling local TV that at
least eight people, including five foreigners, had
been killed in the attack.
The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says interior
ministry officials have declared that the
operation against the attackers has come to an
end, but that this cannot be confirmed.
A number of foreign companies have makeshift
offices in the hotel, our correspondent adds.
One hotel employee told the Associated Press
news agency that the hotel was mostly empty at
the time of the attack.
Meanwhile, a hotel security source told the BBC
that the hotel had received a threat "a few days
ago" warning managers "to empty the building".
'Reprehensible act'
The Corinthia Hotel is popular with foreign
diplomats and government officials. The United
Nations Support Mission in Libya (Unsmil) has
hosted several workshops at the hotel.
Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign
affairs chief, condemned the attack as "another
reprehensible act of terrorism which deals a
blow to efforts to bring peace and stability to
Libya".

The Twitter account linked to IS said that the
group had carried out the attack in revenge for
the death of Abu Anas al-Liby, a Libyan jihadist
who was suspected of involvement in the
bombings of two US embassies in East Africa in
1998.
Liby died in a US hospital on 2 January, days
before he was due to stand trial.
Correspondents say it is difficult to assess
whether IS has a presence in Libya.
A number of attacks in the country have been
claimed by social media accounts that say they
represent the jihadist group, however it is hard to
verify their claims.
Libya has been hit by instability since the
overthrow of long-time ruler Col Muammar
Gaddafi in October 2011.
Numerous militias govern their own patches of
territory, with successive governments struggling
to exercise control.