Italy foreign minister condemns Benghazi attack on consul

Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi takes part in a joint news conference with his Maltese counterpart Tonio Borg (not pictured) at Malta's Foreign Ministry in Valletta September 12, 2012.

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's foreign minister, Giulio Terzi, on Sunday condemned an attack on an Italian consul who came under fire in his car in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, describing it as a fresh attempt to destabilise the country.

Consul Guido De Sanctis was unhurt in the shooting on Saturday of his heavily armoured car, which came four months after the U.S. ambassador was killed in an attack on the U.S. mission in the city.

"This was an attempt to destabilise the institutions of the new Libya," Terzi said in a statement on Sunday.

"Italy expresses its strongest condemnation and reaffirms its total support of the democratic path and the reforms that Tripoli authorities have started," he added.

He gave no indication of who might have been behind the attack.

(Reporting By Catherine Hornby; Editing by Myra MacDonald)