Funeral held in Benghazi for Libyan military intelligence chief killed in bombing
Senior Libyan National Army (LNA) officials gathered in Benghazi on Tuesday for the funeral of military intelligence chief Fawzi al-Mansouri, who was killed in a car bombing a day earlier as he left a mosque, according to Africanews.
Attack and funeral
Al-Mansouri died in the explosion on Monday in Benghazi, the eastern Libyan city that serves as a stronghold of the Libyan National Army led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. He was attacked as he left a mosque, according to the report. Senior LNA officers attended the funeral ceremony on Tuesday, an event that underscored both the senior position al-Mansouri held within the eastern command’s security apparatus and the symbolic importance the force attaches to commemorating its fallen officers.
Security in Libya’s divided east
The assassination has raised fresh security concerns in Libya’s already divided east, as Africanews reported. Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city, has experienced waves of instability and targeted violence since the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi. The city has long served as the main power base of the eastern authorities, which operate in rivalry with the internationally recognised government based in Tripoli in the west.
A fractured security landscape
Libya has been split between competing administrations for years, with the LNA controlling much of the east and the Government of National Unity holding sway in Tripoli. Repeated international efforts to reunify the country’s institutions and hold elections have made limited progress, leaving a fractured security landscape in which assassinations and bombings remain recurring features of political life in cities such as Benghazi. The killing of a senior intelligence figure in such circumstances is likely to intensify calls for tighter protection of senior officers and renewed debate over who is responsible for continued attacks on military and security personnel in the east.
Sources
This report was written from coverage published by the following news organisations. Follow the links for the original reporting.
