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EU pushes Libya peace as IS claims deadly blasts

09 January 2016 02:08 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The EU urged Libyan politicians to back a unity government Thursday, as the Islamic State group claimed suicide bombings that killed dozens and sparked fears of a jihadist expansion on Europe's doorstep, APA reports quoting AFP.

European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini also said the EU would give Libya 100 million euros ($108 million) to battle IS, saying the security situation "needs to be tackled immediately".

She told reporters the funds would be available from the first day the unity government comes to power.

Mogherini met separately in a Tunis suburb with Fayez al-Sarraj, a businessman who was named in a UN-brokered national unity government as prime minister designate, and Libyan lawmakers.

IS said one of its members, Abdallah al-Muhajer, "detonated a truck bomb in the middle of a base belonging to the apostate Libyan forces in the city of Zliten... killing nearly 80 of them and wounding 150".

A security source had said more than 50 people were killed in the attack on a police training school, which left buildings charred and turned cars into twisted wrecks.

It was the deadliest single attack in Libya since the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

IS, which launched an offensive against Libya's oil heartland this week, also said it was behind Thursday's suicide bomb attack on a checkpoint in Ras Lanouf, home to a key oil terminal on the country's northern coast.

The Red Crescent said six people, including a baby, died in that attack.