Libya’s cabinet affairs minister, Adel Juma, was injured in an assassination attempt in Tripoli on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Government of National Unity.
The U.N.-recognized GNU, which is based in Tripoli, condemned the attack and said Juma was "in stable condition" after "shots were fired at his car" by an unknown assailant.
It said an investigation was opened "to track down the perpetrators", adding that it "will not tolerate any attempts that threaten the security and stability of the state."
Reports said Juma was shot in the leg.
Juma has served in the role of overseeing coordination between Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah's office and other ministries for the Tripoli-based government since March 2021.
He is considered one of Dbeibah's closest advisors.
In April last year, an attack targeted the home and office of Dbeibah's nephew and advisor, Ibrahim Dbeibah, in Tripoli but left no casualties.
And in 2021, the interior minister of the then Government of National Accord (GNA), Fathi Bashagha, also survived an assassination attempt on a Tripoli highway.
The minister's assassination attempt came amid U.N. and local efforts to bring Libya to elections to resolve the crisis between two rival governments. One is the GNU headed by Dbeibeh based in Tripoli, which administers the western part of the country and is recognized by the United Nations.
The other was appointed by the House of Representatives in early 2022, headed by Osama Hamad and based in Benghazi, which manages the eastern part of the country and most of the south.
Libyans hope the long-awaited elections will bring an end to political and armed conflicts and conclude the transitional periods that have followed the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi's regime, which ruled from 1969-2011.
