* Three car bombs explode near interior, security facilities
* First lethal car bomb since Gaddafi's fall kills two
* Violence remains problem for new leadership
TRIPOLI, Aug 19 (Reuters) - At least two people were killed
when three car bombs exploded near interior ministry and
security buildings in the Libyan capital on Sunday, the first
lethal attack of its kind since Muammar Gaddafi's fall last
year, security sources said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the
blasts, the latest examples of the violence that has remained a
problem in Libya despite the peaceful transfer of power to the
new government after elections in July, the first in decades.
Gaddafi's overthrow and death, after 42 years of eccentric
personal rule, left a power vacuum that was filled by local
militias and other armed groups that security forces have
struggled to subdue, and sporadic shootings and explosions.
Ambulances and firefighters rushed to the scenes of Sunday's
blasts, in residential areas in central Tripoli, and large
numbers of police were deployed to cordon off the sites and
remove the charred vehicles and other debris.
The first bomb blew up near the interior ministry's
administrative offices in Tripoli but caused no casualties, the
sources said. On arriving at the site, police found another car
bomb that had not blown up.
Minutes later, two car bombs exploded near the former
headquarters of a women's police academy, which the defence
ministry has been using for interrogations and detentions, the
sources said, k il ling two civilians and wounding three.
The blasts, which caused minor damage to the two buildings
and shattered windows of nearby cars and buildings, took place
early in the day as worshippers prepared for mass morning
prayers marking Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim celebration that marks
the end of the fasting month Ramadan.
"The (victims) were two young men in their 20s. They drove
past the police academy precisely at the time of the explosion,"
a security source said.
Security sources said they had no immediate clues to who had
planted the bombs and had received no claims of responsibility.
A surge of violence during Ramadan included a car bomb in
Tripoli near the offices of the military police and an explosion
at the empty former military intelligence offices in the eastern
city of Benghazi, the cradle of the revolt against Gaddafi.
The latest attacks will test the mettle of the national
assembly, which made improving security a priority when it took
power earlier this month from the National Transitional Council
of opposition forces that toppled Gaddafi.
Its main task will be imposing its authority on numerous
armed groups, mostly militias who took part in the uprising, who
refuse to lay down their weapons. Disarming them remains a
challenge.
The 200-member assembly will name a new prime minister who
will pick his government, pass laws and steer Libya to full
parliamentary elections after a new constitution is drafted next
year.
The persistent violence has affected Libya's relations with
other countries and international organizations whose help it
needs in its drive for stability, security and economic
reconstruction.
The International Committee of the Red Cross announced that
it was suspending its activities in Benghazi, Libya's second
biggest city, and Misrata after one of its compounds in Misrata
was attacked with grenades and rockets.
The fate of seven Iranian relief workers, official guests
of the Libyan Red Crescent Association, remains unknown almost
three weeks after they were kidnapped by gunmen in the heart of
Benghazi.