Tripoli – Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah’s convoy was targeted in a drive-by shooting in the capital Tripoli, with no injuries reported, the interior ministry said on Thursday.
The convoy of the interim premier was “targeted by an attack in the Souq al-Joumaa area (of eastern Tripoli) by individuals in an unmarked Toyota Camry,” it said.
The “criminal act”, in the early hours of Thursday morning, did not cause any casualties, it said.
Libyan media had earlier reported the attack, without saying whether Dbeibah had been in the vehicle at the time.
The news came as the war-torn country’s parliament, based in eastern Libya hundreds of miles (kilometres) from the capital, voted to replace Dbeibah with former interior minister Fathi Bashagha, raising the spectre of a power struggle in the capital after a year and a half of relative calm.
ALSO READ | Libya PM rejects attempted ouster by parliament
Dbeibah, who had a mandate to lead the country to elections set for December last year but which were ultimately abandoned, has said he will only cede power to an elected government.
Hours before the shooting, Dbeibah had met dozens of supporters who had gathered at Martyrs’ Square in Tripoli to protest against the parliament’s attempts to remove him.
Libya has been torn apart by regional, tribal and ideological divisions since the 2011 revolt that toppled dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
A landmark ceasefire in late 2020 had cleared the way for United Nations-led efforts to bring an end to a decade of violence.
Dbeibah’s unity government took office in early 2021.
But when December 24 elections were cancelled amid deep divisions over their legal basis and several controversial candidates, his rivals charged that his mandate had ended.
The push to remove him has triggered fears of a return to east-west divisions and parallel governments.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Picture: Getty Images
Source: AFP
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
