Three armed men killed in Libya as violence escalates

Libyan security forces on Sunday killed three armed men suspected of being behind seven failed bomb plots, a state spokesman said, in the first incident of its kind since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in October.   

Several violent incidents have rocked Libya in recent days and on Sunday the International Committee of the Red Cross announced it was suspending its activity in the country's second biggest city after one of its compounds was attacked with grenades and rockets.   

Security forces surprised the three armed men inside a farm near Aziziya, 25 miles (40 km) south of Tripoli, in possession of the same kind of explosives used in seven previous bomb plots, said Saleh Darhoub, spokesman of the National Transitional Council.   

Five members of the security forces were wounded during the clash, Darhoub told reporters without giving details on the nature of the targets, which he described as "vital", or saying whether there were possible links between the armed men and recent explosions.   

On Saturday, a car bomb exploded near the offices of the military police in Tripoli, three days after a strong explosion rocked military intelligence offices in the eastern city of Benghazi.   

On Sunday, a security source blamed the car bombing, which slightly wounded a Tunisian national, on a personal vendetta.   

On Tuesday, seven Iranian relief workers were abducted in Benghazi by a group of armed men. The aid workers had just started a mission in the country as guests of the Libyan Red Crescent Association.      

REUTERS