Tripoli: A Libyan security official says gunmen have stormed a luxury Libyan hotel popular with foreigners and have taken hostages after killing at least three guards.
Essam Al-Naas, a spokesman for a Tripoli security agency, said the standoff is continuing on Tuesday at the Corinthia Hotel.
Hassan al-Abey, a corporate sales manager at the hotel, said five masked attackers wearing bulletproof vests stormed the hotel, shooting in the air. He said the hotel was evacuated before the attackers clashed with the guards and blew up a car bomb in the parking lot of the seaside hotel.
Al-Abey was among those evacuated. He said the hotel had Europeans and Turkish guests.
Tripoli has been hit with series of car bombs and shootings amid turmoil following the country's 2011 civil war.
A Libyan security official says a car bomb exploded outside a luxurious hotel in the capital Tripoli.
The official says the bomb exploded outside the Corinthia hotel early Tuesday morning, rocking Tripoli's old city.
The official provided no further information. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Most recently a guard was killed in a shootout outside the UN headquarters.
Since the ouster and killing of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, the country has been torn among competing militias and tribes vying for power. Libya's post-Gadhafi transition has collapsed, with two rival governments and parliaments - each backed by different militias - ruling in the country's eastern and western regions.
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