28-03-2024 11:48 AM Jerusalem Timing

Gunmen Kidnap Tripoli Government Minister in Libya

Gunmen have kidnapped a minister in Libya’s Tripoli-based government, parliament said on Tuesday, and accused a group linked to its own interior minister of being behind the abduction.

Gunmen have kidnapped a minister in Libya's Tripoli-based government, parliament said on Tuesday, and accused a group linked to its own interior minister of being behind the abduction.

The security and defense commission of the General National Congress (GNC) said in a statement that it "strongly condemned" the kidnap of Mohamad al-Gaddar, Tripoli's planning minister, by "an armed group linked to the interior minister".

It accused the same group of attacking the GNC's government headquarters.

Libya descended into chaos after the October 2011 ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gaddafi, with two governments vying for power and armed groups battling to control its vast energy resources.

A militia alliance including extremists overran Tripoli in August 2014, establishing a rival government and a parliament that forced the internationally recognized administration to flee to the country's remote east.

The Fajr Libya militia in control of Tripoli told AFP that Gaddar was kidnapped on Monday and had yet to be released.