TRIPOLI, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Two security personnel were killed on Sunday when gunmen attacked a security headquarters in the southern Libyan city of Sabha, according to security and medical sources.
A security source in the interior ministry told Xinhua that unidentified gunmen attacked the headquarters of the Vital Facilities Security Department of the Security Directorate of Sabha, and exchanged fire with security forces.
"According to preliminary investigations, the aim of the attack was theft," the source said, saying the theft targeted personal belongings of the killed security guards.
Spokesman of the Sabha Medical Center, Osama Al-Wafi, confirmed the death toll. He told Xinhua that the center "received the bodies of two security men killed in an armed attack by unidentified persons."
"A wounded person was taken to Tripoli for treatment as the center could not provide proper medical care," Al-Wafi said.
The Vital Facilities Security Department of Sabha's Security Directorate is responsible for protecting government and service facilities in the southern city.
Sabha, some 800 km southwest of the capital Tripoli, suffers an unprecedented security breach, where kidnappings by armed groups occur frequently.
Libya is plagued by insecurity and a political chaos since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011.
