Gunmen try to kill Libya’s recognized prime minister
BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — A spokesman for Libya’s internationally recognized government says gunmen tried to assassinate the prime minister on his way to the airport in the eastern city of Tobruk.
Arish Said, head of the government’s media department, said that Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni’s motorcade was attacked and one of his guards was lightly wounded Tuesday but that there were no fatalities.
Prior to the attack, he said that armed men who had been protesting outside a session of the Tobruk government’s House of Representatives tried to storm the building, firing shots into the air and demanding al-Thinni resign. The session was postponed until next week.
Libya’s elected parliament was forced to relocate to the far-eastern city of Tobruk after Islamist-allied militias took over the country’s capital, Tripoli, and the second-largest city of Benghazi after fierce clashes. Fighting is still underway in much of the country.