Bombing in Libya's Benghazi kills 1, injures scores

By Jihad Nasr

TRIPOLI, Libya

At least one person was killed and scores more injured when an explosion tore through a mosque during Friday prayers in Libya’s northeastern city of Benghazi.

“The bomb went off at the Abu Huraira Mosque in Benghazi’s ​​Majuri area,” one eyewitness told Anadolu Agency.

According to a medical official at the government-run Al-Jalaa Hospital, the hospital has so far received at least one dead body and 129 injured persons.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency anonymously as he was not authorized to talk to media, the official said another 15 injured people -- including one in critical condition -- had been taken to another medical facility.

Fathi al-Touati, a doctor at Al-Jalaa, said the hospital was in “a state of chaos” following the influx of so many injuries.

“People are screaming,” he told Anadolu Agency. “We’ve received dozens of injuries.”

Late last month, a double car-bombing in the same city claimed the lives of at least 34 people and injured dozens more.

Libya has remained dogged by violence since 2011, when a bloody uprising led to the ouster and death of President Muammar Gaddafi after more than four decades in power.

The ensuing power vacuum soon led to the emergence of a handful of competing seats of government and a host of heavily-armed militia groups.