By Mustafa Caglayan
NEW YORK
Both the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council condemned Friday multiple bomb attacks in eastern Libya that left more than 45 people dead.
The attacks came earlier on Friday in three separate waves in the eastern city of Al-Qubbah with three suicide bombers striking a local police headquarters, a petrol station and the home of Aguila Saleh, speaker of Libya's internationally-recognized parliament.
Two of the bombings were claimed by a group affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant militant group, also known as ISIL.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson in New York, UN chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the bombings and expressed condolences to the families of the victims.
“These terrorist acts are an additional reminder that a political solution to the current crisis must be found quickly to restore peace and stability in the country and confront terrorism,” he said.
In a separate statement, the UN Security Council also condemned the "heinous act," calling for the perpetrators of the bombings to be brought to justice.
"The members of the Security Council stressed again that ISIL must be defeated and that the intolerance, violence and hatred it espouses must be stamped out," read the statement.
The bombings came four days after Egypt launched a series of airstrikes – carried out in coordination with Libya's internationally recognized Tobruk government – against suspected ISIL targets in the country's east.
The airstrikes were in response to a video purportedly showing the execution of 21 Egyptian Christian hostages by ISIL militants in Libya.
Libya's Tobruk-based government and Egypt urged the UN Security Council on Wednesday to lift an arms embargo on Libya so that its forces could combat terrorists and "all non-state militias."
Two governments -- based in Tripoli and Tobruk -- currently vie for legislative authority in the North African country.
