A suspected car bomb explodes near the French embassy in Libya, injuring two security guards and badly damaging the building.
Officials have confirmed that two French security officers on the premises were injured, one seriously, in the attack.
"There was an attack on the embassy. We think it was a booby-trapped car," a Libyan official said.
"There was a lot of damage and there are two guards wounded."
The blast destroyed a security wall and severely damaged the building when the blast occurred at about 7.10am local time.
The French mission is located in a two-storey villa in the uptown Gargaresh area of Tripoli.
Journalist William Crisp, who arrived at the scene, told Sky News: "The engine block of the car landed quite a way from the embassy so it was quite a strong blast.
"The attack was in a sleepy, wealthy part of town. It was a middle-class neighbourhood."
Buildings opposite the embassy were also damaged in the attack and two cars parked near the embassy were destroyed.
Jamal Omar, who lives across the street and whose face was slightly injured, said the car must have been parked only minutes before the explosion.
"I was sweeping outside my house, and there wasn't any car in front of the embassy. The explosion happened less than five minutes after I went back inside," he said.
"In liaison with the Libyan authorities, the services of the state will do everything to establish the circumstances of this odious act and rapidly identify the perpetrators," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement.
The motive for the attack, the first assault launched on an embassy in the Libyan capital, was not immediately clear.
Libyan foreign minister Mohammed Abdel Aziz condemned the attack on the embassy, calling it a "terrorist act".
"We strongly condemn this act, which we regard as a terrorist act against a brother nation that supported Libya during the revolution" of 2011 that ousted the regime of Moamer Kadhafi, Abdel Aziz told AFP news agency at the scene of the blast.
President Francois Hollande said: "France expects the Libyan authorities to shed light on this unacceptable act so that the perpetrators are identified and brought to justice."
In Paris, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said his ministry was "in liaison with the Libyan authorities" and that France will "do everything it can to shed light on the circumstances of this abhorrent act and to quickly identify the perpetrators".
Mr Fabius is making a visit to Tripoli to discuss the situation with both Libyan officials and French diplomatic staff.
Sky News Foreign Affairs Editor Tim Marshall added: "It is another indication of how things are not doing well in Libya.
"The French would be a target, along with Britain, as they spearheaded regime change from the Gaddafi era."
Two years after the country's civil war, Libya has struggled to maintain security, build a unified army and reign in its militias.
The sprawling desert state has been awash with weapons and roving armed bands but violence in Tripoli has not targeted diplomats before in the way Western envoys have been shot at and bombed in the east of the country.
On the anniversary of the September 11 US attacks last year, armed men launched an assault on the US consulate in Benghazi, killing four US citizens including the ambassador to Libya.
Officials have confirmed that two French security officers on the premises were injured, one seriously, in the attack.
"There was an attack on the embassy. We think it was a booby-trapped car," a Libyan official said.
"There was a lot of damage and there are two guards wounded."
The blast destroyed a security wall and severely damaged the building when the blast occurred at about 7.10am local time.
The French mission is located in a two-storey villa in the uptown Gargaresh area of Tripoli.
Journalist William Crisp, who arrived at the scene, told Sky News: "The engine block of the car landed quite a way from the embassy so it was quite a strong blast.
"The attack was in a sleepy, wealthy part of town. It was a middle-class neighbourhood."
Buildings opposite the embassy were also damaged in the attack and two cars parked near the embassy were destroyed.
Jamal Omar, who lives across the street and whose face was slightly injured, said the car must have been parked only minutes before the explosion.
"I was sweeping outside my house, and there wasn't any car in front of the embassy. The explosion happened less than five minutes after I went back inside," he said.
"In liaison with the Libyan authorities, the services of the state will do everything to establish the circumstances of this odious act and rapidly identify the perpetrators," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement.
The motive for the attack, the first assault launched on an embassy in the Libyan capital, was not immediately clear.
Libyan foreign minister Mohammed Abdel Aziz condemned the attack on the embassy, calling it a "terrorist act".
"We strongly condemn this act, which we regard as a terrorist act against a brother nation that supported Libya during the revolution" of 2011 that ousted the regime of Moamer Kadhafi, Abdel Aziz told AFP news agency at the scene of the blast.
President Francois Hollande said: "France expects the Libyan authorities to shed light on this unacceptable act so that the perpetrators are identified and brought to justice."
In Paris, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said his ministry was "in liaison with the Libyan authorities" and that France will "do everything it can to shed light on the circumstances of this abhorrent act and to quickly identify the perpetrators".
Mr Fabius is making a visit to Tripoli to discuss the situation with both Libyan officials and French diplomatic staff.
Sky News Foreign Affairs Editor Tim Marshall added: "It is another indication of how things are not doing well in Libya.
"The French would be a target, along with Britain, as they spearheaded regime change from the Gaddafi era."
Two years after the country's civil war, Libya has struggled to maintain security, build a unified army and reign in its militias.
The sprawling desert state has been awash with weapons and roving armed bands but violence in Tripoli has not targeted diplomats before in the way Western envoys have been shot at and bombed in the east of the country.
On the anniversary of the September 11 US attacks last year, armed men launched an assault on the US consulate in Benghazi, killing four US citizens including the ambassador to Libya.
Source : SkyNews
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