The head of military intelligence for Lt Gen Khalifa Haftar's forces in eastern Libya was killed when an explosive device detonated in his car outside his home in Benghazi, security sources said.
Brig Fawzi Al Mansouri, eastern Libya's chief of military intelligence, was killed in the blast on Monday evening in the Hawari area of the city, Reuters reported, citing security sources
The sources did not identify those responsible or provide details about the explosive device, leaving the circumstances of the assassination unclear.
The killing came as a separate series of drone attacks targeted critical oil infrastructure in western Libya, underscoring the country's renewed security instability.
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.
The tank contained about 4.5 million litres of gasoline, Libya's oil ministry said. Thick black smoke and flames rose over the facility as emergency crews worked to contain the blaze.
Authorities sought to cool nearby tanks and prevent the fire from spreading, while the National Oil Corporation warned that continued attacks could force it to halt operations.
NOC later reported another drone attack targeting an oil blending and filling plant associated with the refinery. The strike landed near a major oil tank and pipeline network.
The attacks were the latest in a series targeting Zawiya's oil infrastructure. NOC said three attacks had struck oil assets over Sunday and Monday.
An earlier drone incident on Saturday hit an untreated naphtha tank at the refinery, causing a leak that workers managed to control.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, and Libyan authorities have not publicly identified a suspected perpetrator.
The Zawiya refinery is Libya's largest operating refinery, with capacity of 120,000 barrels per day. It is connected to the country's 300,000-barrel-per-day Sharara oilfield.
Attacks undermine unity hopes
The attacks threaten not only infrastructure but also domestic fuel supplies in a country already vulnerable to shortages and disruptions.
The violence comes against the backdrop of Libya's unresolved political and military division, more than a decade after the 2011 Nato-backed uprising toppled Muammar Qaddafi.
The country split between rival eastern and western factions in 2014. A 2020 ceasefire halted major warfare, but armed groups and competing administrations have retained influence.
Lt Gen Haftar's Libyan National Army controls much of eastern and southern Libya, and is aligned with authorities based in Benghazi.
The UN-recognised Government of National Unity, meanwhile, is based in Tripoli and controls much of western Libya, leaving the country divided between competing centres of power.
Libya's rival armies met in the central city of Sirte last month, with both sides declaring a unified national army as the only path to lasting stability.
The meeting is part of a broader, US-driven push led by Massad Boulos, US President Donald Trump's adviser on Arab and African affairs. Known as the Boulos Initiative, it offers the promise of American oil investment in return for unity.
Under the US proposal, Washington has explored a power-sharing formula that would keep Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, leader of the Government of National Unity, in office, while elevating Lt Gen Haftar to a senior national executive role, possibly leading a unified presidential structure.
