BENGHAZI, Libya — Unidentified gunmen fatally wounded Libya's military police force commander as he left his house in the eastern city of Benghazi to attend Friday prayers, a security source said.
"Several shots hit Ahmed al-Barghathi. He was brought to hospital but later died there," the source said.
The attack is the latest blow to a weak Libyan government that is struggling to assert control over militias and radical Islamists two years after the fall of Moammar Gadhafi.
Several army officers have been assassinated in Benghazi, where the U.S. ambassador was killed during an Islamist assault on a U.S. diplomatic mission a year ago. The shooting of Barghathi, who was on vacation in the city, is the highest profile attack there for weeks.
Some former rebel groups now in theory help the government maintain security, but are themselves often a source of violence.
![Gunmen kill top Libyan military police commander: Benghazi part of wave of attacks on government offices.: An killing of a top Libyan commander is the latest in a wave of targeted killings and attacks on Benghazi  government offices, such as this one on a building that houses Swedish and Finnish consulates that occurred Oct. 11.]({"default":"http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/dc/3af724c2d0ce6c5827def01341f7cb/_h353_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg"}) |
| An killing of a top Libyan commander is the latest in a wave of targeted killings and attacks on Benghazi government offices, such as this one on a building that houses Swedish and Finnish consulates that occurred Oct. 11. |
"Several shots hit Ahmed al-Barghathi. He was brought to hospital but later died there," the source said.
The attack is the latest blow to a weak Libyan government that is struggling to assert control over militias and radical Islamists two years after the fall of Moammar Gadhafi.
Several army officers have been assassinated in Benghazi, where the U.S. ambassador was killed during an Islamist assault on a U.S. diplomatic mission a year ago. The shooting of Barghathi, who was on vacation in the city, is the highest profile attack there for weeks.
Some former rebel groups now in theory help the government maintain security, but are themselves often a source of violence.
![Reuters]({"default":"http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/99/6a6e1e9d2013e8fe84e6814a7d491/_h17_w0_m6_otrue_lfalse.gif"})
