BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – A car exploded late on Saturday in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi killing four people and wounding at least 14, security and medical officials said.
Among those killed in the attack in the city’s central Keesh district was Mohamed Bugaighis, who headed an anti-corruption body, the officials said.
Bugaighis was also a supporter of the Libyan National Army (LNA) commanded by Khalifa Haftar, which has been waging a two-year military campaign against Islamists and other opponents in Benghazi.
An witness told Reuters the explosion happened close to Bugaighis as he was leaving his car to visit a cafe he frequented.
After struggling to make progress, Haftar’s forces seized several key neighbourhoods earlier this year, though they still have not brought the city under full control. Although security has improved in the centre, fighting continues in peripheral areas and bombings against Haftar’s forces have persisted.
Earlier, a security official said the bodies of 10 men who appeared to have been tortured and shot dead were found in Benghazi’s Shabna suburb overnight between Thursday and Friday.
It was not clear who was responsible for the killings. Milad al-Zwai, a spokesman for Benghazi’s special forces, said five of the bodies found in Shabna had been identified, but he did not give details.
The area is under the control of Haftar’s forces.
In July, 14 bodies with gunshot wounds to the head were found in another Benghazi neighbourhood, Laithi, which had been the scene of fierce fighting before Haftar’s forces took control of it several months earlier.
(Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Alison Williams)
