Attacks on Western targets in Libya sow fears of Islamist extremists

Source: Washington Post

TRIPOLI, Libya — A recent string of attacks on Western diplomats and international organizations has sparked fears that extremists are trying to destabilize Libya’s first post-revolution national elections. The attacks included a bombing last week outside the U.S. Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi and a rocket-propelled grenade attack there on a convoy carrying the British ambassador, which injured two bodyguards.

Explosions have also targeted offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross and a U.N. vehicle, as well as British Embassy cars visiting the southern city of Sabha last week.

A Libyan group called the Brigades of the Imprisoned Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman has asserted responsibility for some of the attacks. It is not clear whether all the attacks are linked or whether elements from outside Libya are involved, though experts say those responsible are probably Libyans. Abdel Rahman, known as the blind sheik, is an Egyptian Muslim cleric who is serving a life sentence in the United States on conspiracy charges that grew out of an investigation into the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

The violence comes just weeks before Libyans vote for a national assembly that will in turn choose an interim government and a slate of people to write the country’s constitution. The polling date was recently pushed back to July 7.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/attacks-on-western-targets-in-libya-sow-fears-islamist-extremists-want-to-disrupt-vote/2012/06/15/gJQAx8kWeV_story.html

---

Well, this is a surprise.