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Car bomb kills Mansouri
Major General Fawzi al-Mansouri, head of the military intelligence department for Libya’s eastern-based forces led by Khalifa Haftar, was killed on Monday when an explosive device detonated in his car outside his home in the Hawari area of Benghazi.
“was killed when an explosive device detonated in his car outside his home in Benghazi”
A Libyan security official told Anadolu that an improvised explosive device (IED) planted under Mansouri’s vehicle detonated as he was getting into the car outside his home in the al-Sayyida Aisha residential neighbourhood in eastern Benghazi.
Reuters cited security sources saying the blast happened Monday evening in the Hawari area, and that Mansouri was killed in the car bombing as he was leaving his residence.
The killing came as Libya remains divided between rival governments, with the UN-recognised Government of National Unity headed by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh based in Tripoli and a Benghazi-based government headed by Osama Hammad.
In a separate report, the LNA described the assassination as a “cowardly and criminal act” and said it would not cease fighting terrorism.
No claim, rival governments
Multiple outlets, citing Reuters security sources, said no one was publicly identified as responsible for the attack on Mansouri and that the sources did not provide details on the device.
TRT Afrika, quoting a Libyan security official speaking to Anadolu on condition of anonymity, described the incident as a “terrorist attack” and said no official statement had been issued so far.
The BSS/AFP report said the LNA did not identify those behind the killing, describing it as a “cowardly and criminal act” and adding that it would continue its struggle for stability and security and for unification of Libya’s institutions.
In the same Reuters-linked reporting, Libya’s political division was framed as ongoing, with the Government of National Unity in Tripoli and a rival administration in Benghazi.
The Jerusalem Post also reported that two security sources told Reuters they did not say who was responsible and did not provide further details about the device.
Security instability and oil
The National | Western Alternative linked the assassination to renewed security instability, saying the killing came as separate series of drone attacks targeted critical oil infrastructure in western Libya.
“underscoring the country's renewed security instability”
It reported that at the Zawiya refinery, about 40km west of Tripoli, a drone strike hit a fuel storage tank, triggering a fire that eventually caused the tank to collapse, and that the tank contained about 4.5 million litres of gasoline, according to Libya’s oil ministry.
The same report said the National Oil Corporation warned attacks could force it to halt operations and later reported another drone attack targeting an oil blending and filling plant associated with the refinery.
It also described militia clashes that broke out the night of August 4, with heavy fighting in Zawiya and neighbouring Surman between two armed groups nominally affiliated with the government in Tripoli.
Against that backdrop, the article said the clashes closed the coastal motorway to Tunisia and triggered a mass prison break in Surman, while the first known use of armed drones by small militias in western Libya was also reported.