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By Libya Herald Reporters.
![Deputy foreign minister . . .[restrict]Hassan Elsaghir (File photo)](https://www.libyaherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/B8RhuCKIcAAeA7f-300x279.jpg)
Tripoli, 18 November 2015:
A hunt is apparently on for gunmen who last night beat up deputy foreign minister Hassan Elsaghir in his Beida office.
The government has condemned the attack, in which some some of Elsaghir’s staff and security detail were also reportedly injured. It described it as a “barbaric and cowardly assault”.
Details are still unclear but that several armed men burst into the foreign ministry yesterday evening. Some sources have suggested that the attackers were employees angry at the cutback in foreign diplomatic staff and the loss of opportunities to serve abroad.
Beida has seen little lawlessness since the government relocated there from Tripoli. However, Elsaghir was also involved in one of the earlier outbreaks. In January, he was briefly kidnapped from his hotel room in an incident that was linked to his refusal to issue diplomatic passports to individuals not entitled to them.
At the time, the government promised an investigation. However no arrests were made in connection with his abduction. [/restrict]
