Italy sends "all its friendship and closeness" to Libya's interim premier Abdulhamid Dbeibah after an apparent assassination attempt on his vehicle in Tripoli on Thursday, deputy foreign minister Marina Sereni told Italian lawmakers.
Authorities made no immediate statement on the attack by gunmen on Dbeibah's convoy, which took place just hours before the eastern-based parliament appointed a new premier - former interior minister Fathi Bashagha.
Dbeibah, who heads Libya's internationally recognised, unified transitional government, has rejected the parliament's move, saying he will only hand over power after a national election.
National polls in Libya remained "the only credible solution to allow a simplification of the highly fragmented current political situation," Sereni said in earlier remarks on Thursday.
"This is also not only to stabilise the country long-term, but also to meet the Libyan people's legitimate aspirations," Sereni told the lower house of parliament's foreign affairs committee."
