Eight Dead in Libya Hotel Attack

Libyan security forces and emergency services surround Tripoli's central Corinthia Hotel (R) in the Libyan capital, Jan. 27, 2015.

At least eight people were killed Tuesday in an attack on a Tripoli hotel popular with politicians and international visitors.

Libyan officials say five of the dead are foreigners and the other three were guards.

The U.S. State Department said an American was one of the victims, but gave no other information.

According to Libyan authorities, the gunmen set off a car bomb outside the Corinthia Hotel before storming the building and firing weapons. The attackers then blew themselves up.

A group calling itself the Tripoli Province of the Islamic State claimed responsibility in an online statement. It called the attack retaliation for the 2013 capture of Abu Anas al-Libi by U.S. forces in 2013.

Al-Libi was suspected in the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He died earlier this month in a U.S. prison awaiting trial.

Material for this report came from AP and Reuters.