Libyan interior minister says he survived assassination attempt
The security force involved in Fathi Bashagha's motorcade collision dispute the claim, saying the interior minister's men fired on them.
Fathi Bashagha, interior minister for eastern Libya’s United Nations-recognized government, allegedly survived an assassination attempt on Thursday, sources in his office told multiple news outlets.
Bashagha’s motorcade reportedly came under fire as it drove through Tripoli after the senior official met with Mustafa Sanalla, chair of Libya’s National Oil Corporation.
A vehicle approached his convoy before individuals inside the car opened fire, Reuters cited Bashagha as saying. One assailant was killed and two were arrested after the allegedly armored vehicle was rammed off the road. The interior minister called the incident a “well-planned” attack.
The Stablization Support Authority, an officially sanctioned armed group that claimed its members were in the rammed vehicle, disputed the account, saying that Bashagha’s personnel opened fire on their members. Relatives of the man killed in the incident, Radwan al-Hanqari of Zawiya, publicly insisted he was innocent.
