S. Korea slams shooting attack on embassy in Libya

South Korea's foreign ministry on Monday strongly censured a shooting attack against its embassy in Libya's capital Tripoli during the weekend, while giving a condolence message to victims.

"Two Libyan police officers were killed, and one injured during the armed attack against security posts of our embassy in Libya on April 12. The government strongly denounces the attack and expresses deep condolences to the victims and their families," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the principle of non-aggression against diplomatic missions should be respected, reaffirming its "firm position" that any attack or violence against the diplomatic facilities cannot be justified for any reason.

It noted that the South Korean government is deeply concerned about severe casualties caused by the civil war in Libya, hoping for stability in the Arab country through dialogue and in a peaceful manner.

On Sunday afternoon, unidentified gunmen randomly fired some 40 rounds of machine gun toward the security post of the South Korean embassy in Libya, killing two security guards and wounding one. No South Korean casualties were reported.

The ministry had yet to identify the assailants, but a group of militants, who claimed to be a Tripoli affiliate of the Islamic State (IS), said about two hours after the incident via its Twitter account that they were behind the attack. Endi