Originally published on January 12, 2014
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Libya's deputy industry minister Hassan Al Droui was shot dead in Sirte on Saturday evening.
The minister was assassinated in his hometown Sirte, about 400 km from the capital Tripoli. Local newspaper Libya Herald reported that Droui was attacked near Mekmdas market in central Sirte after evening prayers by a group of gunmen in a car.
"Unidentified gunmen sprayed bullets on Mr Droui in central Sirte," a security official told AFP. He did not reveal his identity as he was forbidden to speak to media. The minister was shot multiple times, suffering bullet wounds in several parts of the body.
It was the first assassination of an official of the transitional government since Muammar Gaddafi's downfall in 2011. The identities and the motives of the attackers are still unclear, but there are speculations that the Abu Bakr Yunis Jabr brigade, a group supporting the Gaddafi regime, was behind the shooting.
Droui was a former member of the National Transitional Council, which played a pivotal role in toppling the Gaddafi administration which had stayed in power for 42 years. However, after the demise of Gaddafi, the country has plunged into chaos, violence and crimes, as the post-war government failed to establish control over the 1,700-plus militias and armed groups.
