The Islamic State jihadist group has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in eastern Libya on Sunday by forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar, a strongman in the eastern part of the country.
Eight people were killed and eight others were injured, including civilians, in an attack on a checkpoint in Haftar, at the entrance to the city of Ajdabiya, 840km east of Tripoli, according to a source at the city hospital.
A statement from the Amaq news agency said the bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a Haftar police checkpoint, killing or wounding 19 people.
General Fawzi al-Mansouri, a senior local security official in Ajdabiya, said the victims included civilians. "They were passing by at the time of the attack," he said, adding that the car driven by the suicide bomber was carrying a heavy load of explosives.
This is the second such attack in less than a month in this part of Libya. A first suicide attack, for which the IK had also claimed responsibility, injured three people on March 9, 60 km south of Adjabiya.
Despite the loss of its stronghold of Sirte in the north of the country in December 2016, the IK remains active mainly in central and eastern Libya.
A power struggle is raging in Libya and there has been a chronic lack of security since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011.
It is governed by two rival authorities. In Tripoli, the international community-backed National Unity Government (GNA) and a parallel cabinet set up in the east of the country are backed by General Khalifa Haftar, head of the so-called Libyan National Army (ANL).
