The powerful interior minister of Libya's unity government survived an assassination attempt on Sunday, an aide said, sparking fears of resurgent violence despite UN-led peace efforts.
An AFP journalist heard an intense exchange of gunfire around on the coastal road near Janzur on the eastern edges of Tripoli, which was later closed for an hour by security forces.In a statement, the ministry said Mr Bashagha had been targeted in an"assassination attempt as he returned from his residence in Janzur".It said the attackers had used an armoured Toyota truck fitted with a machine gun.
The post finally went to businessman Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, a 61-year-old engineer, who has called for reconstruction, democracy and reunification in Libya.Libya has been riven by violence since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi. After pro-GNA forces last summer repelled a year-long offensive by eastern military chief Khalifa Haftar to seize the capital, a UN-backed ceasefire set the stage for talks aimed at reaching a political solution to a decade of conflict.