Deputy prime minister of Libya, Sadiq Abdulkarim has survived unhurt after gunmen fired on his car in Tripoli, the capital city.
Abdulkarim, who also serves as interim interior minister, said he was attacked on Wednesday while en route to the General National Congress assembly from the Interior Ministry.
“I tell those who did it that Libya is bigger than you and Libya’s men will not be threatened by bullets, guns or rockets,” Abdulkarim said in a brief televised statement later on Wednesday.
According to the state news agency, Abdulkarim, who appeared healthy in his television appearance, had not been wounded in the attack.
The LANA news agency said “unknown gunmen fired a barrage of bullets” at the deputy prime minister’s car while he was inside.
The Libyan government has been struggling to contain dozens of armed groups who kept their guns after the NATO-backed revolt against Gaddafi in 2011. The identity of Abdulkarim’s attackers was not immediately clear.
Libya’s difficulties in asserting state authority have worried Western powers, who fear violence in the OPEC country could spill over to its North African neighbours.
Security has deteriorated in recent months, with car bombs and assassinations become part of daily life in the eastern city of Benghazi.
The attack reflects the chaotic state of the North African nation two years after Muammar Gaddafi’s fall.
The attack on Abdulkarim comes less than three weeks after the assassination of Deputy Industry Minister Hassan al-Droui, who was shot in Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte on January 12.
