The first blast on Tuesday (January 23) evening hit worshippers leaving a mosque in Benghazi’s central Al Salmani district. The second, about 15 minutes later, inflicted a large number of casualties among people who had gathered at the scene.
The toll was one of the highest from a single attack since Libya slid into turmoil after the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Senior security officials were among the casualties.
Benghazi is controlled by the Libyan National Army (LNA), which is led by powerful eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar and was battling Islamists and other opponents in the port city until late last year.