Two injured in Libya attack

Published on 12/06/2012 01:48

Britain’s ambassador to Libya was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade yesterday, which injured two of his bodyguards in the most serious of a spate of assaults on foreign targets.

The attackers ambushed Dominic Asquith’s convoy, metres from the consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, firing the weapon at the front of one of the vehicles and blowing out the windscreen, local security officials said.

It was the fourth attack in three months on a foreign mission in the city, the birthplace of the revolt which last year overthrew Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Some analysts say the violence is the work of Islamist militants exploiting the security vacuum left after Gaddafi’s fall.

“A convoy carrying the British ambassador to Libya was involved in a serious incident,” said a spokeswoman for the British embassy in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. “Two close protection officers were injured in the attack but all other staff are safe.”