TRIPOLI — At least two people have been killed and several more wounded when three car bombs exploded in Tripoli in the early hours of Sunday, in the first lethal attack of its kind since the ousting of the Gaddafi regime last year. Security sources said they had no immediate clues to who had planted the bombs and had received no claims of responsibility. The latest attacks will test the mettle of the national assembly, which made improving security a priority when it took power earlier this month from the National Transitional Council. Ambulances and firefighters rushed to the scenes of Sunday's blasts, in residential areas in central Tripoli, and large numbers of police were deployed to cordon off the sites and remove the charred vehicles and other debris. The first bomb blew up near the Ministry of Interior, causing no casualties, security sources said. Minutes later, two further bombs exploded on Omar Mukhtar Street, killing two people and wounding at least two more. These second bombs were detonated close to a facility used by the Ministry of Defense for detentions and interrogations. The blasts, which caused minor damage to the two buildings and shattered windows of nearby cars and buildings, took place as worshippers prepared for mass morning prayers marking Eid Al-Fitr. “The (victims) were two young men in their 20s. They drove past the police academy precisely at the time of the explosion,” a security source said. There have also been reports of two further bombs, which failed to explode. The first was encountered by police as they arrived at the site of the Interior Ministry blast, while the second was found on Al-Sreem street, close to the Immigration Ministry. Checkpoints have now been set up and cars are being searched across central Tripoli, in particular adjacent to sensitive areas such as the prime minister's office. The identity of the perpetrators has not been established, but the timing of the blasts seemed deliberately calculated to coincide with the festival of Eid. This is the first time a car bomb has resulted in fatalities in Tripoli since the end of last year's revolution. On Aug. 4, a small car bomb reportedly exploded in downtown Tripoli, following a clash between two groups wanting to set up a pavement stall in Rasheed Street, near the Bourguiba Mosque, just south of the old city.
