A renegade Libyan general who launched a military offensive against Islamist armed groups survived a suicide bomb attack on his residence near the eastern city of Benghazi yesterday. A spokesman for General Khalifa Hifter, a former general under Colonel Muammar Gaddafi who later defected and lived in the United States, claimed that the bomb had contained around five tonnes of explosives. Three guards were killed and four people injured in the blast.

Jérôme Cau, a renowned French vascular surgeon, was working in Benghazi when the anti-Gaddafi revolution erupted. Overnight, he went from performing specialist surgery to operating on the wounded. Three years and about a thousand operations later, he continues to treat the wounded, free of charge, at the Benghazi Medical Centre (BMC), although he could be earning hundreds of thousands of euros a year doing heart bypass surgery in the top hospitals around Europe.

he Jordanian ambassador to Libya was kidnapped by masked gunmen in central Tripoli yesterday and his driver shot in the legs. Fawaz al-Aytan was bundled into one of three vehicles involved in the incident, after gunmen opened fire. He was on his way to work near Bab al-Aziziya, the former home of the deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Mr Aytan did not have a bodyguard and his BMW was left abandoned.

Abdullah al-Thinni, Libya’s interim prime minister, resigned yesterday after less than a month in the position, saying that he and his family had been attacked by gunmen and he could no longer accept the violence that came with the job. Mr al-Thinni said that no one had been hurt in the attack, which appears to have taken place outside his home early yesterday.

Rebels who have been occupying four of Libya’s oil ports since August agreed last night to lift their blockade, raising hope that vital exports can resume this week. > Zueitina and Hariga ports, held by rebels demanding more autonomy from Tripoli, will open immediately while the larger ports, Ras Lanuf and Es Sider, will reopen in two to four weeks after more talks, the Government said.

The Libyan Navy threatened to bomb a North Korean-flagged tanker yesterday as it loaded oil plundered by a rebel militia. The rebels said that any attempt by the Government to seize the tanker would be “a declaration of war”. > The vessel, Morning Glory, docked on Saturday at the Sidra terminal, which is controlled by rebels who demand autonomy for the region. Al-Habib al-Amin, the Culture Minister, said that Navy vessels had been sent to Sidra to stop the tanker.