Gunmen assassinate mayor of Libya’s biggest port

The mayor of Misrata, Libya’s third-largest city, was killed by gunmen who ambushed his car, a security source said yesterday. Mohammed Eshtawi, who was returning from an official trip to Turkey on Sunday, was kidnapped after leaving the airport in the western coastal city, murdered and his body dumped in the street. The city hospital said the body bore gunshot wounds.

The security source said Eshtawi’s brother was with him in the car and was wounded in the attack.

UN envoy for Libya Ghassan Salame denounced the killing and expressed his “profound sadness” over the news.

“Eshtawi, may God bless his soul, was protective of his city and country, an activist to establish civil peace and always seeking the language of harmony. May God embrace him with his mercy and grant his family patience and solace,” he said on Twitter.

Misrata, which is home to about 400,000 people, is considered one of the country’s safest cities.

Its militias played took part in efforts to expel ISIL from the coastal city of Sirte last year.

In October, a bomb exploded at the city’s court, killing at least four people and wounding 40 others in an attack claimed by ISIL.

Misrata, almost 200 kilometres east of Tripoli, is the gateway for food and other imports into Libya and the country’s only tax-free zone.

It is one of the few places still frequented by foreign business people who fear poor security elsewhere.

The North African oil producer has been in chaos since the 2011 western-backed uprising that unseated Muammar Qaddafi, but Misrata, Libya’s biggest port, had been relative peaceful until now.

Eshtawi was kidnapped on his return from a visit to Turkey, murdered and his body was dumped in the streets of Misrata