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By Libya Herald reporter.
Malta, 28 January 2015:
A grenade was thrown into the grounds of the International School of Martyrs (ISM) in . . .[restrict]Tripoli this morning, a staff member confirmed to Libya Herald.
The grenade failed to explode.
The incident happened at around 11.15 am, the staff member said. ‘’We were alerted when the security guards started running around and shouting and telling everybody to go to the football pitch. The staff also started helping’’, he explained to Libya Herald on strict condition of anonymity.
He confirmed that it was one grenade and that it did not explode or cause any injury or damage. ‘’The grenade was thrown into the car park. A security officer spotted it as he was parking his car’’. The member of staff said classes later continued and that they were not evacuated.
No one or group has claimed responsibility for the incident. The incident comes the day after the terror attack on the Corinthia hotel which has left up to 13 dead.
At the time of speaking to Libya Herald the ISM member of staff said that everyone from the school had got home safely and that they expect to return to work as normal tomorrow, unless they receive new instructions.
The ISM, which confusingly for many Libyans has a Canadian principal, is located in the residential area of Hay Al-Andalus in Tripoli. It has a number of western teachers as well as Libyan, Arab, African and Asian teachers.
It is an exclusive fee-paying school and was founded in 1958 as the Oil Companies School (OCS) to serve the children of foreign oil company employees in Tripoli.
At one stage it was commonly referred to as the American oil companies’ school and many still refer to it as such. The Canadian accent of its Canadian principal is often confused by many Libyans as an American.
The co-educational school has approximately 700 students divided evenly between the elementary school and the high school. The school offers an English language curriculum from Kindergarten to Grade 12 leading to an Irish Leaving Certificate.
The school is located on a 2.5 hectare site with 45 classrooms, an auditorium, a gymnasium, science laboratories, libraries, an infirmary, a school canteen, playing fields and a children’s playground. It also has some staff accommodation on site. [/restrict]
