By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 10 September 2013:
A retired colonel from the Qaddafi-era External Security Agency has been assassinated in a car-bomb attack . . .[restrict]in Benghazi.
Salem Mohamed Al-Urufi, aged 75, was killed in the explosion. His son was critically injured and is now being treated in a Benghazi hospital intensive care unit.
Several other people were also reported to have been injured in the blast.
“The incident took place after Noon Prayers in Benghazi’s Hay Al-Salam district, near the local car market in the east of the city,” spokesman for Benghazi’s Joint Security Room Abdullah Zaidi told the Libya Herald.
He said it was likely that an explosive device had been attached to the underside of Urufi’s car and then detonated remotely. Zaidi added that the investigation could be difficult because no-one was seen near the car before the explosion.
This is the latest in a series of killings and attempted assassinations, mainly targeting retired and serving military personnel, in the east of the country.
Earlier this month a retired colonel escaped with minor injuries when a car-bomb exploded beneath his vehicle. Two days before, a retired Special Forces sergeant escaped unhurt when his unoccupied vehicle was targeted with a car-bomb. [/restrict]
