TRIPOLI (AFP) ― A car bomb hit the France Embassy in Libya, wounding two French guards and causing extensive damage in the first attack on a foreign mission since militants stormed the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in September.

The Libyan Foreign Ministry called the attack in Tripoli a “terrorist” incident.

An AFP correspondent at the site said the wall surrounding the property was destroyed and the embassy building extensively damaged. Two cars parked near the embassy were also destroyed.

The explosion occurred around 7:00 a.m., residents said.

A French source confirmed an attack against the embassy and said one guard was seriously wounded and another lightly hurt. The mission is located in a two-storey villa in the upmarket Gargaresh area.

“We heard a loud blast at 7:00 a.m. It was a big mistake to site the French Embassy in our neighborhood,” said a local resident.

France condemned the “odious” attack.

“In liaison with the Libyan authorities, the services of the state will do everything to establish the circumstances of this odious act and rapidly identify the perpetrators,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement.

The impact of the explosion also severely damaged two villas near the embassy, while windows of a shop 200 meters away were blown out.

The street in front of the mission was flooded with water, apparently from a pipe ripped by the blast.

There was no immediate information on who carried out the attack or what the motives.

France, under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, led air raids against the forces of then Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 after a rebellion against his regime erupted.

The operation, under a U.N. resolution aimed at protecting civilians in Libya, helped defeat and topple Gadhafi’s regime, and the dictator was killed in October 2011 after an eight-month conflict.