MISRATA: At least 65 people were killed on Thursday when one of Libya’s worst truck bombs in years exploded at a police training center in the town of Zliten, local officials and hospital sources said.
No group immediately claimed the attack, but the bombing was one of the deadliest since militants started expanding their presence in the chaos that followed the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Mayor Miftah Hamadi said the bomb detonated as recruits were gathering at the police center in Zliten, a coastal town between the capital Tripoli and the port of Misrata.
Witnesses said residents were ferrying victims to Misrata hospitals in ambulances and cars, many with shrapnel wounds. Medical sources said 65 people had been killed, including some civilians, though one official said between 50 and 60 had died.
Since the NATO-backed revolt ousted Gaddafi, Libya has slipped deeper into turmoil with two rival governments and a range of armed factions locked in a struggle for control of the North African state and its oil wealth
