Libyan interior minister survives attack on motorcade; two nabbed

Interior minister of Libya’s UN-backed government on February 21 came under attack in the capital, Tripoli, officials familiar with the development told sources of The Associated Press. Heavily armed men on Sunday opened fire at Fathi Bashagha’s motorcade on a highway, killing one and injuring another, according to a spokesman for the Tripoli-based Health Ministry, Amin al-Hashmi. Sources revealed, gunmen shot at the motorcade of the Libyan Interior Minister, which was retaliated by his guards, as he made a narrow escape unscathed west of the capital. At least two were arrested, following the gunfire exchange. 

A separate source close to Bashagha told agencies, that the minister was returning after meeting with Mustafa Sanalla, head of the National Oil Corporation, and visiting the headquarters of the ministry’s law enforcement, following which, the incident took place. Bashagha, the politician from the eastern city of Misrata, who has been vouching for the prime ministerial seat, had recently declared his support from the UN-led interim government that united the warring Libyan factions. The minister, in a Twitter update, said that he had discussed the security of Libya’s oil facilities to ensure cooperation for fair distribution of returns. 

In a statement issued by Libya’s Interior Ministry, shortly after the incident, officials said that Bashagha was returning to his residence in Janzour when the perpetrator attempted an “assassination” on him. The attack was widely condemned by foreign powers, including US Ambassador in Libya Richard Norland, who condemned the shooting, urging to bring those behind the attack to justice. “Minister Bashaga’s focus on ending the influence of rogue militias has our full support,” Norland wrote on his Twitter handle. No group, thus far, has come forward to claim responsibility of the attack, according to reports. 

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Libyan conflict

United Nations-led Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF), earlier, brokered a truce between the warring sides in Libya and chose a new interim government, agreeing on temporary executive authority mechanism itching closer to diplomatic dialogues. Libya is split between an UN-supported Turkey-backed Government of the National Accord in Tripoli and rival authorities in the Eastern region. In the aftermath of the fall of the ousted Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi who was captured at Sirte by rebels and shot, forces of military commander Khalifa Haftar led an attack on the capital. Two weeks following the turmoil for power, the LPDF negotiated a ceasefire with the warring sides, brokering a truce between the internationally recognized government and warlord Khalifa Haftar on the pretext of temporary political administration. Following the deal, the Brig. Gen. Khaled Al-Mahjoub, the head of the mobilization department at Haftar’s self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces announced on national TV AL-Arabiya that the LAAF’s units would pull out parallel to the dismissal of the foreign mercenaries.

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