Gunmen Swipe $54M From Libya Central Bank Van

Ten gunmen stole $54 million from a bank van as it entered the city of Sirte in Libya after departing the airport, the BBC reports. The cash had come from Libya's central bank in Tripoli. The van had a single security vehicle as protection, and guards "were unable to resist the 10 attackers," LANA state news said. Local officials had sought better security for the money, a Sirte council member tells Reuters.

The money included $42 million in Libyan dinars, along with $12 million worth of euros and US dollars, Al Jazeera reports, based on state news. "The robbing is a catastrophe not just for Sirte but the whole of Libya," the council member says. Police are pursuing the gunmen after their vehicles were identified, AFP reports per LANA. Crime has been rampant in the country since the end of Moammar Gadhafi's reign; July saw two bank heists in Sirte totaling $400,000, an official tells AFP. (More Libya stories.)