Rockets hit hotel in Libyan capital

Representational image

Rockets hit a luxury hotel in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, early on Friday in an attack the internationally recognised government blamed on eastern forces trying to capture the city.

The interior ministry published pictures of a damaged room at the Rixos hotel, where lawmakers opposing the offensive by troops loyal to Khalifa Haftar have been meeting.

No other information about the strike was immediately available. Haftar’s Libyan National Army has been trying to take Tripoli since the beginning of April but it has been unable to breach southern defences.

Fighting has been concentrated in southern suburbs but the Rixos is much closer to the city centre, next to the former residence of Muammar Gaddafi, who was toppled in 2011.