Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah has escaped an assassination attempt when unidentified gunmen shot at his car in the capital Tripoli, an official said on Thursday.
The official confirmed that that Dbeibah had been subjected to an assassination attempt in the centre of the Libyan capital while he was on his way home, but managed to escape unharmed.
Several gunshots hit Dbeibah’s car and the assailants managed to escape the scene.
A source close to the Prime Minister called it “a clear assassination attempt,” amid intense factional wrangling over control of the government.
The incident came mere hours before a session of parliament, which will consider selecting a new prime minister, a move that had been rejected by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who said he would hand over power only to a newly elected government and would not allow a new transitional government in Libya.
On Wednesday evening, Dbeiba visited a demonstration he had called for, demanding that elections must be held as soon as possible, and that the mandate of the House of Representatives and the Supreme Council of State should not be extended.
Libya has been suffering a state of instability and violence ever since a NATO invasion in 2011 destroyed the Jamahiriya government and murdered Libya’s leader Muammar al-Gaddafi.
