Tripoli hotel attack leaves nine dead

Tripoli: Nine persons, including at least five foreigners were killed on Tuesday in an assault on a luxury hotel in the Libyan capital Tripoli. The dead included three security guards killed in the initial attack on the Corinthia Hotel, five foreigners shot dead by gunmen and another person taken hostage by the attackers, Issam al-Naass said.

The nationalities of the foreigners and the person taken hostage were not known. The hostage died when the three gunmen blew themselves up after being surrounded on an upper floor, Naass said. "After being pursued and surrounded on the hotel's 24th floor, the attackers detonated explosive belts they were wearing," Naass said.