TRIPOLI: Gunmen killed Libya’s Deputy Industry Minister as he drove home from shopping in the coastal city of Sirte late on Saturday in an attack security officials blamed on hard-line militants.
Libya is still plagued by widespread violence and targeted killings more than two years after the civil war ousted Muammar Qaddafi, with militants, militia gunmen and former rebels often resorting to force to impose demands on the fragile government.
The minister, Hassan Al-Drowi, was shot several times, a senior security official said, asking not to be identified.
“They opened fire from another car while he was driving, he was shot multiple times,” the official said. “Later, they found explosives attached to his car. The theory is, the bomb failed, so they shot him instead.”
The official blamed militants who have been trying to extend their influence in Sirte, which has been more stable recently than the coastal capital of Tripoli, about 460 km to the west, or the eastern city of Benghazi.
Sirte was the last bastion of Qaddafi loyalists in the war, and the strongman ruler was killed there on Oct. 20, 2011.
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan’s central government, weakened by political infighting and with only nascent armed forces, is struggling to wrest control back from areas where militias are still dominant.
Libya’s General National Congress and its members have still to finish key parts of the country’s transition to democracy since Qaddafi’s fall, with secular parties and hard-liners deadlocked over the way ahead.
The country’s new constitution is still unfinished, and militias who once helped fight Qaddafi have refused to disarm, claiming the central government is too weak to provide security and stability
Libya is still plagued by widespread violence and targeted killings more than two years after the civil war ousted Muammar Qaddafi, with militants, militia gunmen and former rebels often resorting to force to impose demands on the fragile government.
The minister, Hassan Al-Drowi, was shot several times, a senior security official said, asking not to be identified.
“They opened fire from another car while he was driving, he was shot multiple times,” the official said. “Later, they found explosives attached to his car. The theory is, the bomb failed, so they shot him instead.”
The official blamed militants who have been trying to extend their influence in Sirte, which has been more stable recently than the coastal capital of Tripoli, about 460 km to the west, or the eastern city of Benghazi.
Sirte was the last bastion of Qaddafi loyalists in the war, and the strongman ruler was killed there on Oct. 20, 2011.
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan’s central government, weakened by political infighting and with only nascent armed forces, is struggling to wrest control back from areas where militias are still dominant.
Libya’s General National Congress and its members have still to finish key parts of the country’s transition to democracy since Qaddafi’s fall, with secular parties and hard-liners deadlocked over the way ahead.
The country’s new constitution is still unfinished, and militias who once helped fight Qaddafi have refused to disarm, claiming the central government is too weak to provide security and stability
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