At least 60 policemen were killed and around 200 others were injured Thursday after a suicide bomber used a truck to attack an army academy in Libya's western city of Zliten, officials said.
The timeline of the incident is unclear, but witnesses report that the explosives-laden truck crashed into the gate of the academy, which is used by Libya's border police to train recruits, as personnel were gathering to perform morning exercises, according to Ghana Web.
Rescue crews were able to extract 60 bodies from the wreckage hours after the blast, but officials fear that dozens more might be dead. In the meantime, multiple hospitals have received the bodies of both the wounded and dead and are calling for blood donations due to the sheer amount of people injured in the attack.
"We don't have a clear idea of the total toll, other victims were taken to hospitals in Misrata and Tripoli," said Zliten hospital spokesman Moamer Kadi, according to AFP.
There is no word on who could be responsible for the blast, and no one has come forward claiming responsibility. However, considering the nature of the attack, two prime suspects have been identified.
The first is a local ISIS affiliate that has been growing in power as of late and is trying to gain a foothold in Zliten, spreading westward from its central stronghold of Sirte, according to the Associated Press.
The second are smugglers operating in the region, who are notorious to responding violently to any attempt to disrupt their operations. While this would make the base a prime target for smugglers, since many of their operations were foiled by border patrol last year, car bombs aren't their usual M.O., suggesting that Islamic militants were behind Thursday's attack.
Libya has been in a state of turmoil ever since Moamar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in 2011. The country has two rival administrations: an Islamist-backed militia alliance based in Tripoli and a U.N.-supported government in Tunisia.
