Car carrying British ambassador to Libya attacked

[1]

A vehicle carrying Britain's ambassador to Libya was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades Monday in Benghazi, days after a bomb went off just outside the US consulate in the eastern city that was the cradle of last year's uprising.

Two of Ambassador Dominic Asquith's bodyguards were injured in the attack. Britain's Foreign Office said the ambassador was not hurt, but the Libyan state news agency reported he was one of two people lightly injured.

"A convoy carrying the British ambassador to Libya was involved in a serious accident in Benghazi," Britain's Foreign Office said. "Two close protection officers were injured in the attack but all other staff are safe and uninjured," it said, adding the British were working with Libyan authorities to determine who was behind the attack.

On Wednesday, a bomb went off next to the wall of the US consulate in Benghazi without causing any injuries.

A jihadist group calling itself "Brigades of imprisoned Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman" claimed responsibility for the earlier attack on the US consulate, according to the SITE monitoring service.

The group posted a message on jihadist forums Monday saying the attack was a response to the drone strike that killed al-Qaida's second-in-command Abu Yahya al-Libi in North Waziristan on June 4 and to US drones flying in Libyan skies.

It is named after the blind Egyptian Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who is serving a life sentence in the US and was the spiritual leader of men convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the claim and the group has not been heard from before. No one took responsibility for the latest attack on Monday.