Massive blast outside hospital in Benghazi, Libya, up to 17 dead [video included]

RT News
May 13, 2013

People gather at the scene of a car bomb explosion outside a hospital in Benghazi May 13, 2013 (Reuters / Esam Al-Fetori)

At least 17 people, including three children, were killed and another 30 injured when a car bomb exploded in crowded area outside a hospital in Benghazi, Libya.

Libya’s Defense Ministry reported that 17 people died in the blast, shortly after Libyan Deputy Interior Minister Abdullah Massoud confirmed 15 deaths.

“Fifteen people have been killed and at least 30 were wounded in the explosion of a car bomb near the hospital,” Deputy Interior Minister Massoud said.

“I saw people running and some of them were collecting parts of bodies,” Reuters quoted a witness as saying.

The Facebook community OnlyLibya has posted a clip that it claims was taken at the scene of the blast.

[VIDEO]

No group has claimed responsibility for the Benghazi bombing, which is considered to be the cradle of the revolution that ousted longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Witnesses wrote on Twitter that the hospital bombing appeared different in nature from the attacks on Benghazi police stations witnessed in recent days, as the attack targeted a public place, not law enforcement.

The car bombing near the hospital is the latest in a string of attacks across the country in recent weeks.

A bomb exploded outside a police station in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on May 10. The blast damaged the building and shattered the windows of a nearby school, causing no injuries. A Benghazi police station was also bombed on May 10, and no injuries were reported.

Another explosion destroyed a police station in Benghazi on May 2; there were no reports of any victims.

A car bomb exploded at the French Embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli on April 23. Two guards and a woman were injured.