US teacher shot dead in Libya's Benghazi

An American teacher working in Benghazi has been shot dead as he was taking his morning jog in the central Al-Fwihet neighbourhood of the Libyan city.

An American teacher has been shot dead in Benghazi, 15 months after a deadly attack on the US consulate in Libya's second city.

The dead man was a US citizen who taught at the city's international school, security services spokesman Ibrahim al-Sharaa said on Thursday.

He was shot dead as he was taking his morning jog in the central Al-Fwihet neighbourhood of the city, Sharaa said.

The body of a 33-year-old US citizen who had died of gunshot wounds was brought in to the Benghazi Medical Centre, its spokesman Khalil Gwider said.

Benghazi international school director Adel al-Mansuri said the slain American had taught chemistry since late last year.

In other violence in the increasingly lawless eastern city on Thursday, two Libyan soldiers were shot dead in separate incidents, the latest of dozens of security personnel to be gunned down in recent weeks, security officials said.

The violence rocking the city, which was the cradle of the NATO-backed rebellion against veteran dictator Muammar Gaddafi, is largely blamed on jihadist groups that have mushroomed since he was toppled and killed in 2011.

Chief among them is Ansar al-Sharia, a jihadist group accused of the September 11, 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Libya's new authorities have tried in vain to integrate former rebels who helped topple Gaddafi into the regular armed forces, with many militias carving their own fiefdoms, each with its own ideology and regional allegiances.


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Source: AAP

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