The head of military intelligence for Libya's Libyan National Army (LNA) has been assassinated in a car bombing in Benghazi, the latest blow to a country struggling with chronic division and a fragile international peace process. Fawzi al-Mansouri, a senior general with close ties to the Haftar military dynasty, was killed late Monday when an explosive device attached to his vehicle detonated as he was leaving evening prayers at the Sayyida Aisha mosque in Benghazi's al-Hawari neighbourhood. No group has claimed responsibility, and authorities have not publicly named a suspect.

Benghazi, the main city of eastern Libya, is the stronghold of the LNA, the armed force led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, which controls the east and parts of the country's south. Libya has been split between rival administrations since the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi. A UN-recognised government based in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, competes for legitimacy with a rival administration in the east backed by Haftar. Al-Mansouri was a veteran of the LNA's campaigns against jihadist groups including the Islamic State between 2014 and 2017, and played a prominent role in Haftar's ultimately unsuccessful Russia-backed offensive to seize Tripoli in 2019, which was repelled with Turkish military support.

Khaled Haftar, one of the field marshal's sons, said an investigation had been opened and that "indicators point to a despicable terrorist tactic." The LNA's official statement drew comparisons to a wave of targeted killings of officers that took place in Benghazi before 2014, suggesting the involvement of Islamist extremists — though analysts caution that al-Mansouri handled several sensitive intelligence files and had multiple potential adversaries. A separate announcement from Khaled Haftar's office said a "terrorist cell" had been arrested in Benghazi on suspicion of planning acts of sabotage, though no direct link to the assassination was confirmed. The rival Tripoli government also condemned the killing, calling it a "terrorist attack" regardless of political differences.

The assassination carries significant strategic implications. The attack is the first successful targeted killing of a senior LNA figure in Benghazi in over a decade — a period during which the Haftar family has repeatedly cited security in the east as evidence of effective governance. "An attack of this sophistication in an LNA stronghold is also a major blow to the group's security credentials," said Hamish Kinnear, an analyst with UK-based risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. The killing also threatens a US-mediated plan to reunify Libya's divided executive institutions, which the LNA had publicly endorsed. Libya expert Jalel Harchaoui argued that the plan rested partly on the premise that security prevails in Benghazi and that loyalty to the Haftar inner circle guarantees protection — premises now openly called into question.

The bombing comes amid broader diplomatic activity around Libya's future. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited Tripoli this week for talks with Libyan political leaders on stabilisation and institutional unification, signalling Ankara's continued stake in any political settlement. With no perpetrator identified and several parallel peace tracks in motion, analysts warn that the killing risks triggering a new round of internal instability. "A new, destabilising power struggle could soon emerge," Kinnear cautioned — a prospect that casts a long shadow over already difficult efforts to end more than a decade of conflict.