Libyan PM escapes assassination attempt in Tobruk

Libya’s Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thani escaped an assassination attempt yesterday, a government spokesman said.

Hatem Oraibi told AFP that armed gunmen opened fire at a car carrying Al-Thani after he left parliament in Tobruk.

The prime minister was unharmed, but a bodyguard was wounded, he added.

Al-Thani told pan-Arab news channel Al-Arabiya: “We were surprised by a lot of bullets… Thank God we managed to escape.”

A spokesman for the UN-recognised parliament in Tobruk, Abu Faraj Hashim told AFP: “We heard gunshots during the session, then the ministers and prime minister left when armed protesters tried to storm the parliament building.”

Hashim said: “The protesters objected to the government’s policies and performance.”

Al-Thani’s government moved to the eastern part of the country after Dawn of Libya militias seized Tripoli last year.