Blast near Swedish mission in Libya

A car bomb exploded in front of the Swedish consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi Friday morning, causing damage to the building and nearby houses, a security source told Xinhua.

Abdullah Al Zaidi said the consulate building and vehicles in the area were "seriously damaged", adding that no one was inside the consulate at the time of the explosion as Friday is the weekend in Libya.

No casualty was reported.

Zaidi said the explosion at the Swedish consulate appeared similar to the bombings of Court Building Branch and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Benghazi in the past two months.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The incident took place one day after Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was briefly detained by armed men in the capital Tripoli, prompting speculations that it was a reaction to the US raid to capture alleged Al Qaeda suspect Abu Anas Al-Liby in Libya Oct. 5.

Libya is witnessing increasing violence over the past few months. Western missions in Benghazi are often targeted, especially after the attack on the US diplomatic mission in September 2012, in which the US ambassador and three other American staffers were killed.