British ambassador to Libya hit by rocket-propelled grenade

Britain's ambassador to Libya was in a convoy hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, it was confirmed last night.

Dominic Asquith escaped injury during the attack in the country’s second city Benghazi.

However, two British close protection officers were hurt as the convoy was struck about 300 yards from the consulate office in the al-Rabha neighbourhood.

The outrage is the most serious in a spate of assaults on foreign targets, local officials said. Some analysts blame them on Islamist militants exploiting the security vacuum left by Colonel Gaddafi’s overthrow last year.

Dominic Asquith escaped injury during the attack in Libya's second city, Benghazi, it emerged today

Mr Asquith is the great-grandson of Herbert Asquith, Prime Minister between 1908 and 1916, and the cousin of actress Helena Bonham-Carter.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: 'A convoy carrying the British Ambassador to Libya was involved in a serious incident in Benghazi this afternoon.

'Two close protection officers were injured in the attack. All other staff are safe and uninjured.

Some analysts have blamed the attacks in the eastern city on Islamist militants exploiting the security vacuum left after Colonel Gaddafi’s overthrow last year.




The convoy was hit about 300 yards from the British consulate office in Benghazi’s al-Rabha neighbourhood.

One Libyan security official said one person injured was wounded in the shoulder. 'There was a lot of blood in the car that took him to hospital,' said the official.

The rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the front of the vehicle, blowing out the windscreen. Many Western diplomats in Libya use armoured vehicles.

Benghazi was the cradle of the uprising last year which ended Gaddafi’s 42-year rule, but is now a hot spot for violence, with arms readily available and state security forces struggling to assert their authority.

Uprising: The coastal city, 1,000 km east of Tripoli, was where the revolt against Colonel Gaddafi began last year

Security experts say the area around the city is host to a number of Islamist militant groups who oppose any Western presence in Muslim countries.

A third Libyan security source said the convoy was leaving a restaurant, close to the embassy office, when the attack happened.

'We are looking into who is responsible, an investigation is under way,' the source said.

Monday’s attack happened five days after an explosive device was dropped from a passing car outside the offices of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.

On May 22, a rocket-propelled grenade hit the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the city, blasting a small hole in the building but causing no casualties.

A month earlier in Benghazi, a bomb was thrown at a convoy carrying Ian Martin, the head of the United Nations mission in Libya. No one was hurt.

The attacks on their diplomatic missions will be jarring for London and Washington because they have been widely feted in Libya for leading, along with France, the air assault that helped force out Gaddafi last year


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2157922/British-ambassador-Libya-escapes-uninjured-convoy-hit-rocket-propelled-grenade.html#ixzz1xZeZs2Mw