Tunisia Severs Libya Ties, Ousts 4 Envoys

TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisia broke diplomatic relations with Libya today after expelling four Libyan diplomats and accusing Moammar Kadafi’s regime of sending letter bombs to Tunisian journalists.

The government also suspended air service between the neighboring North African countries, said officials, who refused to be identified in accordance with policy.

Libya denied the charges.

Tensions have grown since August, when Libya expelled the first of an estimated 30,000 Tunisian workers.

Letter Bombs Cited

The Tunisian officials said several letter bombs addressed to journalists had been found and one exploded in a Tunis post office Wednesday, causing severe eye injuries to a postal employee.

Another exploded today while a postman was making his rounds in the city’s old quarter, but no one was injured, they said.

Tunisia previously froze commercial relations with Libya and accused it of violating Tunisian airspace. The Libyans have threatened several times to retaliate for what they called a “campaign of lies” by Tunisian newspapers.