TRIPOLI, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- A car bomb attacked the convoy of Libya's Deputy Minister of the Interior of the UN-backed Government, wounding four security personnel in Benghazi on Sunday.
"The security convoy of the Deputy Minister of Interior of the Government of National Accord, Faraj Aqim, consisting of four cars, was targeted by a car bomb that exploded when passing from the coastal road to the area of Sidi Khalifa in Benghazi," an army source told Xinhua.
"The car bomb was parked at the side of the road. It exploded the moment the convoy passed next to it, which wounded four bodyguards and damaged a number of cars parked nearby," the source added.
Aqim confirmed that he survived the blast without being harmed. "I am in good health and have not been harmed. Although four of my men have been injured," Aqim told local Libyan news TV channel.
The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord described the bombing as a "failed assassination attempt."
The media office of the Prime Minister said that the Prime Minister, Fayez Serraj, has contacted Aqim to check on him after the bombing. Serraj confirmed that Aqim was "fine and in good health."
Aqim was appointed by Serraj in August, which angered the eastern-based army, led by General Khalifa Haftar, who issued a decision banning any official of Serraj's Government from exercising any official activity in the areas under the control of the army.
Despite signing a UN-sponsored peace agreement by the country's political rivals and appointment of the Government of National Accord in 2015, Libya remains politically divided amid insecurity and chaos.
