Benghazi, June 02: A car bomb has reportedly gone off outside a hotel in Libya’s opposition-controlled eastern city of Benghazi.
The bomb went off in a parking lot in front of Tibesti hotel where foreign delegations are based and opposition authorities often meet, a Media correspondent reported late Wednesday.
According to the report, five cars were set ablaze after the blast. No casualties have been reported.
Angry crowds gathered outside the hotel and started chanting slogans against Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi. They said Gaddafi is a criminal and should leave the North African country.
People blamed the car bomb on the remnants of Gaddafi’s regime, saying the Libyan dictator aims to undermine the revolution and make divisions among opposition forces in the crisis-hit country.
Benghazi is Libya’s second largest city where the revolution against Gaddafi started in February. The city fell into opposition control during the early days of the anti-government protests.
Opposition forces have established a provisional government named the National Transitional Council in the eastern city.
Meanwhile, Gaddafi forces have started arming criminals and drug dealers in Zlitan, a western town near Misratah, to crush the revolution, said Mohammed, a spokesman for opposition forces in the town.
The Libyan government has rejected the reports, saying, “There is nothing happening to that effect in Zlitan.”
——–Agencies