Intense contacts regarding the government and writing the constitution ... The attempt to assassinate the Minister of Interior unites the Libyans, and the new authorities call for accountability for those involved.

The new executive authority in Libya condemned what it described as an assassination attempt that Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha survived in the capital, Tripoli, on Sunday, in conjunction with intensive contacts in Tripoli regarding the formation of the prospective government and writing the constitution.

This came in a joint statement issued by the new president of the Presidency Council, Muhammad Al-Manfi, and the Prime Minister-designate, Abdul Hamid Al-Dabaiba, and the latter published it on his Twitter account.

The statement stressed "the strong condemnation and disapproval of this incident," and called on "the judicial and police authorities to open a fair and transparent investigation into the circumstances of the accident and prosecute the perpetrators."

Al-Exiled and Al-Dabaiba offered their condolences to those who lost their children in the accident, according to the statement.

In a statement, the Supreme Council of State condemned the shooting incident while the motorcade of the Minister of Interior was passing in the Janzour region.

In a press statement, the Speaker of the House of Representatives in Tobruk (east), Aqila Saleh, expressed his "condemnation of what happened against the Minister of Interior."

And earlier on Sunday, the Libyan Ministry of Interior announced, in a statement, that Bashagha had survived an assassination attempt, while returning to his residence in the Janzour region.

Sources told Al-Jazeera that the convoy of the Libyan Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha came under fire from an armored car while it was passing by the Janzour area, west of Tripoli.

The sources added that one of the attackers was killed, while the security forces managed to arrest two others after their car flipped over.

Dabaiba called on the judicial and police authorities to open a fair and transparent investigation into the circumstances of the incident (Anatolia)

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Libya, Nasser Shadid, reported that Bashagha survived the attack and was unharmed, and that he arrived in the capital, Tripoli, safely.

The reporter said that Bashagha was on his way back from a meeting with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Oil Corporation, Mustafa Sanallah, where he discussed agreement with him on joint work to secure the oil sector from any security threats.

He pointed out that the Libyan Interior Minister had revealed last month a security operation in the west of the country aimed at eliminating armed militias.

Bashagha had previously warned that extremists had regained a foothold in the city of Sirte during the attempt by retired Major General Khalifa Haftar to seize the capital, Tripoli, in 2019.

The Libyan minister expressed his intention to address the problem of the militants by identifying the militias that must be disarmed and those that can be absorbed in the security services.

A surveillance camera monitored some of the details of the incident, and clips of which Anadolu got a copy showed that a double Toyota 27 Hilux, belonging to the Security and Stability Support Service of the Libyan government, flipped over and was traveling by 3 people, who are cousins.

The clips detected the sound of gunfire, without a clear picture of what happened at the time.

Political developments

These developments coincided with intensive contacts and discussions in Tripoli regarding the formation of the prospective government and writing the constitution.

The new president of the Libyan Presidency Council, Muhammad al-Manfi, and the head of the national unity government, Abdel-Hamid al-Dabaiba, discussed with the members of the "5 + 1" joint military committee the possibility of holding a session of the House of Representatives in the city of Sirte.

Exiled and members of the Presidency Council, Abdullah Al-Lafi and Musa Al-Koni, held the first meeting with the President of the National Unity Government, Abdel-Hamid Al-Dabaiba, in the capital, Tripoli, and discussed the formation of the government and efforts to gain confidence from the House of Representatives.

For his part, the UN special envoy to Libya, Jan Kubisch, made a phone call with the elected President of the Presidency Council, Muhammad al-Manfi, and discussed ways to proceed with arrangements for holding a session of the Parliament to give confidence to the new government.

The UN mission stated on its website that Kubis met a number of members of the constituent body to draft the constitution, who briefed him on their course of work and their completion of the draft constitution in July 2017.

Kubis discussed with members of the draft constitution drafting body the arrangements that the Libyan authorities should take to hold the general elections set for December 24th.