(Adds Libyan spokesman's reaction and background paras 5-7)
GENEVA, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Unknown assailants attacked a
compound of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the
Libyan port of Misrata on Sunday with grenades and rockets,
forcing it to suspend its work there and in the eastern city of
Benghazi, the agency said.
The ICRC said seven of its aid workers were inside their
residence when it came under attack. No one was hurt, but damage
to the building was extensive.
It was the fifth time in less than three months that
violence was directed against the independent aid agency in
Libya, the ICRC said in a statement, which stressed its
neutrality.
"Given the circumstances, we are forced to announce, with
considerable regret, that we will be suspending all our
activities in Misrata and Benghazi and that our delegates in
those cities will be temporarily relocated," said Ishfaq Muhamed
Khan, the head of the ICRC's delegation in Libya.
Several violent incidents have rocked Libya in recent days
and included the kidnapping on Tuesday in Benghazi of seven
Iranians relief workers who were official guests of the Libyan
Red Crescent Association.
Also on Sunday, security forces killed three armed men who
were suspected of being behind seven failed bomb plots, said
Saleh Darhoub, a spokesman for the National Transitional
Council. It was the first deadly clash since the fall of Muammar
Gaddafi in October.
Darhoub promised to bring the attackers to court and
condemned their act against what he described as "hosts" of
Libyans "who did great things for the revolution including in
Misrata".
In Geneva, ICRC spokesman Jean-Yves Clemenzo said that the
seven staff had withdrawn to its delegation in the capital
Tripoli. "We do not know who carried out the attack. Grenades
and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) were used, it was a serious
incident," he told Reuters.
The ICRC has a humanitarian mandate to protect people
affected by armed conflict and other situations of violence and
to provide them with assistance, it said.
"The ICRC is not involved in political or religious
activities of any kind, neither in Libya nor anywhere else," it
added. Clemenzo said that the organisation was sometimes
mistaken for a religious movement, which is not the case.
Throughout the revolt last year that ousted Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi, ICRC aid workers delivered food and medical
assistance to civilians, including those trapped in Misrata,
which was long held by rebels under siege by Gaddafi's troops.
"We are appalled by this latest act and by the deliberate
targeting of our staff: they have put their lives at risk to
serve the Libyan people both during and after the conflict,"
Khan said.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Ali Shuaib in
Tripoli; Editing by Peter Graff and Cynthia Osterman)