Gunmen claiming allegiance to ISIS attacked a hotel in Tripoli on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people including an American contractor. From the New York Times:
Four or five gunmen stormed the hotel, the Corinthia, in the early morning, firing their guns into the lobby, battling guards and indiscriminately shooting at civilians, according to news reports and people in contact with associates inside the hotel. … It was the deadliest attack on Western interests in Libya since the assault on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens in 2012.
According to the Times, Libyan television is reporting that at least two of the attackers were killed; it’s not clear what happened to the others.
The “Tripoli Province of the Islamic State” claimed responsibility for the attack online, justifying the violence as retaliation for the United States’ capture of Abu Abas al-Libi, a former Osama Bin Laden associate, in Libya in 2013. Al-Libi, who suffered from hepatitis C and liver cancer, died on Jan. 2 in New York while awaiting trial.
Conflict is ongoing in Libya between two rival governments, nicknamed Libya Dawn and Operation Dignity. Libya Dawn, an Islamist group, currently controls Tripoli.
