Masked gunmen storm luxury hotel in Tripoli and kill 8 persons

#corinthiahotel #tripoli #lybia #gunmen Masked gunmen struck the Corinthia luxury hotel, which sits along the Mediterranean Sea, in Tripoli and killed 8 persons – five of them were foreigners and the other three were security guards. The hotel usually has Italian, British and Turkish guests but was largely empty when the attack happened.
It is understood that the Tripoli branch of Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed responsibility, the Site Intelligence monitoring group said.
The attack included a car bombing and, Mahmoud Hamza, commander of the Special Deterrent Force, has indicated that the situation was under control. He could not, however, confirm the whereabouts of the gunmen.
There were rumors about hostages being taken but that has not been confirmed. Two commercial landmark towers located behind the hotel were evacuated due to security concerns.
Incidentally, this hotel is where the militia-backed prime minister, Omar al-Hassi, usually resides – he was not in the hotel when the attack took place.
In the opinion of experts, the attack was designed for maximum impact because it comes at a time when the UN is beginning a new round of Libya peace talks in Geneva.
The Pentagon had warned in December about the presence of ISIS in Libya and that its influence was growing. Also, that there was evidence that it had set up training camps. In the last nearly six months of fighting, more than 1000 have died while some of the towns are in ruins and over 400,000 people have been displaced.