Libya ISIS News: 'Islamic State in Tripoli Province' Responsible for Deadly Hotel Terrorist Attack
The Libyan branch of ISIS on Wednesday claimed responsibility for the attack on a Tripoli luxury hotel that killed 10 people on Tuesday.
Fox News reported the group calls itself the "Islamic State in Tripoli Province," in reference to the "Islamic State" moniker used by ISIS, the terror organization that controls large swaths of land in Syria in Iraq.
Five guards and five guests -- one American and four European citizens -- were the victims of the rampage at the seaside Corinthia Hotel, which the terrorist group said it perpetrated to avenge the death of Abu Anas al-Libi, who died in U.S. custody earlier this month due to complications from liver surgery.
U.S. special forces had snatched al-Libi, indicted in U.S. federal court over his alleged role in the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, off the streets of Tripoli in 2013. The suspect had been on the FBI's most-wanted list, Newsweek noted.
The Tuesday attack saw a car bomb detonate outside the hotel and at least two gunmen storm the building, a preferred accommodation for government officials and foreign delegations, the magazine detailed. Libyan officials and an American delegation were evacuated during the assault, in which the attackers reached the 24th floor of the hotel complex, Newsweek added.
The "Islamic State in Tripoli Province" identified the attackers as Abu Ibrahim al-Tunsi and Abu Suleiman al-Sudani, noms de guerre that suggest they were Tunisian and Sudanese, Fox News said. However, two attackers that were killed appeared to be Libyans, Essam al-Naas, a spokesman for a security division of the Ministry of Interior, told CNN.
The ISIS affiliate, meanwhile, warned of additional attacks. "The operation is not the last one on the lands of Tripoli," is said in a statement. "Let the enemies of God, the crusaders and their allies await what would harm them."
A senior U.S. State Department official told Fox News that an unidentified American citizen was killed at the Corinthia Hotel. Cliff Taylor, the CEO of Crucible, said the victim was David Berry, a contractor who had worked with the Virginia security company.
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