Police Stations Blasted in Libya's Benghazi

Two explosions rocked police stations in the Libyan city of Benghazi early on Monday and police foiled a third attack, a security official told Agence France Presse, adding that there were no casualties.

Police in the eastern city had placed checkpoints and bolstered security around their stations following two Sunday attacks, blamed on radical Islamists, which claimed the lives of four officers, an AFP correspondent said.

The police stations of Garyunes and Al-Oruba were targeted before dawn on Monday, the security official said on condition of anonymity, adding that a separate attack by a would-be bomber was foiled.

"A parcel of explosives was dropped from a speeding car in front of the Garyunes station. It exploded but there were no casualties," said the source, adding that the culprit was captured shortly after.

A similar attack was staged outside al-Oruba station, he added.

Security forces later detained the driver of a vehicle residents had seen circling al-Hadaiq police station, a target of previous attacks. He had a grenade, a suicide belt and three rocket-propelled grenades in his car.

The man got out of the car clutching the grenade and threatened to blow himself up, but police were able to negotiate his surrender, the security source said.

The latest violence follows the arrest of a suspect for his alleged role in the killings of several police and military officers.

Benghazi was the cradle of the 2011 uprising that toppled Moammar Gadhafi but it has increasingly become a focus for jihadist groups, including militants who killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans last September 11.