Bombing in Eastern Libya as Government Meets U.N. Envoy

A bomb exploded on Sunday near government headquarters in eastern Libya as the prime minister met the U.N. envoy there, an official said.

There were no casualties.

Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani and his interim government were meeting U.N. envoy Bernardino Leon "when a small explosion took place" near the building, said Hassan al-Sghaier, a foreign affairs secretary of state, the official Lana news agency reported.

Sghaier described the blast as a "terrorist incident". He said no one was hurt in the explosion in the far eastern city of Shahat.

Three years after dictator Moamer Kadhafi was toppled and killed in a NATO-backed revolt, Libya is awash with weapons and powerful militias, and run by rival governments and parliaments.

The power struggle took a turn for the worse on Thursday, when the supreme court issued a ruling invalidating the internationally recognized parliament elected on June 25.

The new parliament dismissed the ruling, saying it had been taken "under the threat of arms".

The U.N. mission in Libya, which has been trying to broker a political deal to end the violence in the oil-rich nation, said on Thursday it would study the court ruling closely.

In a statement, it urged all sides "to act responsibly and desist from taking any action that would escalate the existing polarization or result in a further deterioration of the security situation".

The new parliament and Thani's government both have international backing and have based themselves in the remote east of the North African nation for security reasons.

In August the legislature and government established temporary headquarters in Tobruk after Islamist militias, who control most of second city Benghazi, overran the capital Tripoli.

The government has since moved from Tobruk to the nearby city of Shahat.