Jordan’s ambassador to Libya was kidnapped in central Tripoli on Tuesday, the foreign ministries of both nation’s said, CNN reported.
Ambassador Fawaz al-Aytan was abducted along with his security detail, according to Jordan’s foreign ministry. His driver was injured.
A spokesman for the Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the ambassador’s convoy was ambushed by masked gunmen traveling in two vehicles and al-Aytan was whisked away.
Officials have frequently been targeted and intimidated by the different militia groups in the fractured nation.
On Sunday, Libya’s newly appointed Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni stepped down after an attack on him and his family.
A resident in the neighborhood told CNN that al-Thinni was with his family when his convoy came under attack by a militia close to the area where he lives in Tripoli. After they escaped the attack and entered the neighborhood close to Tripoli’s airport road, heavy gunfire erupted in the area.
Al-Thinni said he and members of the cabinet will continue their work as a caretaker government until a new prime minister is chosen by the General National Congress, the country’s interim parliament.
There have been increased concerns about the worsening security situation in Libya and the country’s rocky transition to democracy after the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
Source: Panorama.am