Jordanian envoy to Libya kidnapped

Jordan’s ambassador to Tripoli has been kidnapped by unknown assailants.

Said Lassoued, the spokesperson for Libya’s Foreign Ministry, said that Jordanian ambassador to Libya Fawaz Aitan was kidnapped on Tuesday after masked gunmen attacked his car.

“The Jordanian ambassador was kidnapped this morning. His convoy was attacked by a group of hooded men on board two civilian cars,” he told AFP.

A security official said the ambassador’s driver suffered gunshot wounds during the kidnapping.

The Jordanian government also confirmed the kidnapping, saying that they launched investigating into the incident.

“Jordan has initial information that the Jordanian ambassador in Libya, Fawaz Aitan, was kidnapped,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Sabah Rafi.

The kidnapping comes only two days after Libya’s interim Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni resigned unexpectedly from his post following an armed attack on his family in a residential neighborhood in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

Abductions have been rife in Libya since the 2011 uprising that resulted in the toppling of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Officials are most often targeted, but diplomats and journalists have also been the target of kidnappings, threats and attacks in the African country.

Earlier in January, gunmen kidnapped five Egyptian diplomats in Tripoli and held them for several hours.

Nearly three years after the fall of Gaddafi, the country is still grappling with rising insecurity as former rebels refuse to lay down arms despite efforts by the central government to impose law and order.

The Libyan government said that the abduction was in retaliation for the arrest of a Libyan militia commander by Egyptian authorities.