Attackers storm high rise Libyan hotel

Gunmen attacked a hotel in Tripoli on Tuesday where Libyan government representatives and foreign delegations often stay, killing at least three security guards and five foreigners and "more than likely" taking hostages, officials said.

The gunmen detonated a car bomb outside the Corinthia Hotel, killing three guards. Then at least three of the attackers stormed the luxury hotel, exchanging gunfire with security forces who were helping guests flee the building.

"The security forces are evacuating the guests floor by floor. There was shooting between the gunmen and the security forces," Essam Naas, a spokesman for Tripoli security forces, told Reuters.

"It is more than likely that there are hostages held by the gunmen on the 23rd floor."

Mahmoud Hamza, commander of the so-called Special Deterrent Force, told private satellite television station al-Nabaa that the situation was "under control" on Tuesday afternoon, though he couldn't confirm the whereabouts of the gunmen or how many hostages were taken.

He also said five foreigners were killed, without elaborating, according to a report from the Associated Press. 

One gunman has been arrested, Naas said, adding that security forces were surrounding the seaside hotel. Two Filipino women were wounded by smashed window glass.

Tripoli-based al-Nabaa television channel said "senior officials" were inside the hotel but no further details were immediately available.

Libya is caught up in a conflict involving two rival governments — an internationally recognized one based in eastern Libya and a rival administration set up in Tripoli after an armed faction called Libya Dawn took over the capital.

Most foreign governments closed their embassies and pulled their staff out of Tripoli after fighting between the rival factions erupted last summer.

It was not immediately clear who carried out Tuesday's attack, but the SITE monitoring service said an armed group claiming affiliation with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had claimed responsibility.

Citing social media, SITE said the group claimed the attack was revenge for the death of Abu Anas al-Liby, the suspected Al-Qaeda figure alleged to have helped plan the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.

He died in hospital this month in New York ahead of his scheduled trial.

Wire services