Gunmen attack Libya's parliament, stop vote on new prime minister

Gunmen attacked Libya’s parliament on Tuesday forcing lawmakers to postpone the second round of voting to choose the country’s new prime minister.

In the first round of voting, businessman Ahmed Maiteeq placed first out of the seven candidates running, taking 67 votes. His rival Omar Al-Hassi from Benghazi city came in second with 34 votes.

The runoff between these two candidates was due to take place on Tuesday.

However, as the vote was starting gunmen, reportedly from Benghazi and linked to Al-Hassi, stormed the parliament, wounding several people and disrupting the vote.

The session was adjourned to decide on a new date for the runoff election.

This comes at a time of increasing political tensions in Libya.

In March, the parliament voted to oust Prime Minister Ali Zeidan.

Abdullah Al-Thani was appointed as the interim prime minister; however, he resigned two weeks ago claiming that militants had attacked him and his family to force him to appoint specific ministers in sovereign ministries.

Meanwhile, two army officers were killed and two others seriously injured on Tuesday morning in a car bomb attack in Benghazi, Agence France Presse reported.

AFP quoted an army official speaking on the condition of anonymity as saying that two guards were killed and two others injured in an explosive car attack outside the former headquarters of the Special Forces in Benghazi.

The news agency confirmed the deaths with an official at Benghazi’s Al-Jala hospital.