Two assailants were killed when protesters attacked Russia’s embassy in Tripoli, a minister said Thursday, while denying claims he had urged Russian diplomats to leave Libya after the attack.

Two assailants were killed when protesters attacked Russia's embassy in Tripoli, a minister said Thursday, while denying claims he had urged Russian diplomats to leave Libya after the attack.

"Two Libyans were killed in the attack" late Wednesday, said Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdulaziz, adding that he had urged embassy staff not to spend the night in the compound for fear of a second attack.

Abdulaziz gave no further details on the deaths in the attack, which appeared to have been triggered by conflicting reports of a Libyan army officer killed by a Russian woman.

Moscow said Thursday it had evacuated its embassy staff from Libya after Abdulaziz told the Russian ambassador that Tripoli was unable to guarantee the safety of staff and that they should be pulled out.

"This is not true. We cannot make such a recommendation," said Abdulaziz, adding that he had "asked the Russian ambassador to leave the embassy and spend the night in a hotel or in a similar place."

"After a lengthy discussion, the ambassador received orders (from Moscow) not to leave the embassy and to leave the country in the morning, so we facilitated their departure," said the Libyan minister.

Dozens of protesters had attempted to storm the Russian embassy on Wednesday night, setting alight a vehicle and causing some damage to the mission's entrance gate.

The incident came two days after conflicting reports emerged about the murder of a Libyan army officer in the Souk Juma district of Tripoli.

Wednesday's assault came a little over a year after militants stormed the US mission in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, triggering an hours-long firefight and killing four Americans, including the US ambassador.