Triple bombing kills 25 in east Libya: medics

BENGHAZI, Libya - Agence France-Presse

At least 25 people were killed and 30 wounded Feb. 20 in a triple bombing in an eastern Libyan town near the jihadist stronghold of Derna, medical and security sources said.
      
The simultaneous attacks targeted police headquarters in Al-Qoba, as well as the home of the speaker of Libya's internationally recognised parliament and a petrol station, the sources said.
      
Al-Qoba is controlled by the paramilitary force of former General Khalifa Haftar, who is now backed by Libya's beleaguered internationally recognised government.
      
It lies just 30 kilometres (20 miles) west of Derna, where Egypt launched air strikes against jihadist targets on Monday in retaliation for a gruesome Islamic State group video showing the beheading of 21 Christians.
      
Medics said parliament speaker Aguila Salah Issa was not at home at the time of the bombings.
      
They said the majority of the casualties were at the petrol station where a long queue of motorists had been waiting to fill up.
      
Libya's recognised parliament has been based in the town of Tobruk, farther east along the coast close to the Egyptian border, since an Islamist-backed militia alliance seized the capital last August and installed a rival parliament and government.