A Libyan state minister survived an assassination attempt when gunmen opened fire on his car in the capital Tripoli on Wednesday, a government statement said.

The Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) strongly condemned the attack in which it said an unknown group had shot directly at the vehicle of the state minister for cabinet affairs Adel Juma as it travelled on a highway.

The statement, posted on an official platform, said that Juma's health condition was stable and that security authorities had "launched investigations to uncover the circumstances of the incident and track down the perpetrators."

The GNU under Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah was installed through a U.N.-backed process in 2021.

Oil-rich country Libya has been in political turmoil and has seen several outbreaks of conflict since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.