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By Libya Herald reporters.
Tripoli, 7 January 2016:
An explosion late this afternoon at a checkpoint in the oil terminal town of Ras . . .[restrict]Lanuf, 350 kilometres south west of Benghazi has killed at least four people. One of them was said to be a 16-year old youth whose family vehicle was caught in the blast.
Initial reports indicated there had been a car bomb at the town’s eastern checkpoint, however, it is now reported that a suicide bomber targeted the Daem checkpoint manned by Ibrahim Jadhran’s Petroleum Facilities’ Guards (PFG).
Nine people are said to have been injured. Some are in critical condition.
As with today’s suicide bombing in Zliten, 500 kilometres away, the so-called Islamic State is the prime suspect.
On Monday, it launched an attack on the oil terminal town of Sidra, just 25 kilometres further west, using four suicide bombers in two vehicles. As a result of the fighting and rocket attacks over two days, five oil storage tanks were set ablaze.
Yesterday, a PFG source in Ajdabiya told the Libya Herald that although IS forces had withdrawn from Sidra westwards to Ben Jawad, further IS attacks were expected imminently.
There are reports that Jadhran and PFG units have pursued IS and was involved in fighting today just east of Ben Jawad.
Meanwhile it is also reported that a Libyana mobile telecommunications relay station near Ajdabiya has been blown up by IS. [/restrict]
