TRIPOLI: Two explosions struck the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Sunday, one near the Interior Ministry and the second near a women's police academy, a Libyan security officer told a Reuters photographer.

The officer, who was holding back people outside the academy, said that there were an unspecified number of people killed and wounded there.

The blast near the interior ministry was a car bomb but there were no casualties, the security officer said.

If the information is confirmed by Libyan officials, it would be the first time there have been deaths from blasts in Libya since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Violence has still been a problem despite Libya's peaceful power handover after its elections in July, the first in decades following the end of 42 years of one-man rule under Gaddafi. AGENCIES