Turkey pulls diplomats out of Benghazi
ANKARA. KAZINFORM - Turkey has temporarily pulled its diplomatic staff out of the Libyan city of Benghazi and urged its nationals to leave the east of the country amid mounting security concerns, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
Turkey is one of the last countries to maintain a diplomatic presence in Benghazi, where the US ambassador was killed during an attack by militants on the American diplomatic mission in the port city in 2012, Arab News reported. The ministry said its diplomats would continue to work from Tripoli while the Benghazi mission was closed. The move comes after a huge explosion likely caused by a suicide bomber at an army checkpoint in Barsis, 50 km east of Benghazi killed the attacker and wounded six others late on Wednesday. Militants seized the Turkish consulate as they overran the northern Iraqi city of Mosul earlier this week, taking 49 people hostage including the consul general, special forces soldiers and children, and leading to criticism of the foreign ministry for failing to evacuate its staff in good time.