Blast damages Libyan foreign ministry building in Benghazi

1 of 3. People look at the site of an explosion at a Libyan Foreign Ministry building in Benghazi September 11, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Esam Omran Al-Fetori

BENGHAZI, Libya | Wed Sep 11, 2013 11:14am EDT

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - A car bomb damaged a Libyan foreign ministry building in Benghazi on Wednesday, causing no known casualties on the first anniversary of the attack on the U.S. consulate in the country's second largest city.

Two years after the revolt that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is riven along regional and tribal lines and dogged by armed violence, leaving the central government struggling to curb the clout of rival militias and radical Islamists.

Local security officials said a car packed with explosives was left beside the ministry building where it detonated at dawn, badly damaging it and several other buildings in the center of Benghazi. There were no reports of casualties.

A few hours before the Benghazi explosion, security forces defused a large bomb placed near the foreign ministry headquarters in the eastern Zawyat al Dahmani district of the capital Tripoli, the government said.

"Libyans cannot ignore the timing of this explosion. It's a clear message by the forces of terror that they do not want the state or the army to stand on its feet," Prime Minister Ali Zeidan told reporters.

Zeidan did not directly blame any group for the attack, but alluded to Islamist militants blamed for a spate of recent car bombs targeting security and army officers.

As well as militia violence, Zeidan's central government has also struggled to end strikes by oil workers and armed guards at oil installations that have paralyzed the North African state's crude production.

A year ago, four Americans including the U.S. ambassador to Libya were killed in an attack on the Benghazi consulate.

Washington initially said the assault had grown out of anti-Western protests. But it later turned out Islamist militants were the perpetrators, marking the 11th anniversary of al Qaeda's September 11 attacks on the United States.

Acting Interior Minister Al-Sadeeq Abdul Karim said the army and police were stepping up measures to stem the deterioration of security in Benghazi and other parts of the vast country.

Benghazi has seen a spike in car bombings and assassinations of army and security officers, many of whom served in Gaddafi's security contingents and then joined successor formations after the 2011 civil war.

Analysts say rebels and militants seeking revenge against former security officers who served under Gaddafi, and frustrated with the limited progress in bringing his ex-henchmen to justice, have sought to take the law into their hands.

(Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli in Benghazi and Suleiman al-Khalidi in Tripoli; editing by Patrick Markey and Mark Heinrich)

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White House ramps up 9/11 security measures, citing Benghazi

People plant some of the 3000 U.S. flags placed in memory of the lives lost in the September 11, 2001 attacks, at a park in Winnetka, Illinois, September 10, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Jim Young

WASHINGTON | Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:17pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Tuesday said it had ordered heightened security of U.S. facilities abroad on the September 11 anniversary, citing the attack that killed four U.S. government employees in Benghazi, Libya, last year.

"The president's national security team is taking measures to prevent 9/11 related attacks and to ensure the protection of U.S. persons and facilities abroad," the White House said in a statement.

President Barack Obama's counterterrorism aide Lisa Monaco has been in charge of reviewing security measures in place for the anniversary, the White House said.

Four Americans including the U.S. ambassador to Libya were killed in an attack on a compound in Benghazi a year ago. The administration initially said the assault grew out of anti-Western protests.

Later, however, it turned out that Islamist extremists launched the attack on the September 11 anniversary. The administration was forced for months to defend its handling of the events at Benghazi, with critics charging officials deliberately played down the nature of the attack to protect the president's re-election bid.

The White House said its first reports were based on incomplete information.

"The events of last year, losing four brave Americans - Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods - brought home the reality of the challenges we face in the world," the White House said.

(Reporting By Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

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