TRIPOLI: The mayor of Libya’s third-largest city Misrata has been killed by unidentified assailants who abducted him as he returned from an official trip overseas, a security source said on Monday.
Mohamad Eshtewi’s body was found dumped in the street after he was kidnapped after leaving the airport in the western coastal city late Sunday, the source said.
The city hospital said it had received the mayor’s body bearing gunshot wounds.
His brother was with him in the car and was wounded in the attack, the security source said.
Eshtewi was returning from an official visit to Turkey with other members of the city council, who were all elected in 2014 for four years.
UN envoy for Libya Ghassan Salame on Twitter denounced the killing and expressed his “profound sadness” over the news.
Britain’s ambassador to Libya, Peter Millett, said he was “deeply saddened by (the) senseless murder.”
“He worked hard to serve his people,” he said on Twitter.
Home to some 400,000 people, Misrata is considered one of Libya’s safest cities.
Its powerful militias played a major role in expelling the Daesh group from the coastal city of Sirte last year.
In October, four people were killed in a suicide bombing claimed by Daesh at the main court building in Misrata.
Libya has been wracked by chaos since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi, with rival authorities and militias vying for control of the oil-rich country.
Mayor of Libya’s Misrata abducted and killed
Mayor of Libya’s Misrata abducted and killed
US, Qatar, Egypt, Turkiye urge restraint in Gaza after Miami talks
- Top officials from each nation met with Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, to review the first stage of the ceasefire
MIAMI: The US was joined Saturday by Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye in urging parties in the Gaza ceasefire to uphold their obligations and exercise restraint, the chief US envoy said after talks in Miami.
Top officials from each nation met with Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, to review the first stage of the ceasefire that came into effect on October 10.
“We reaffirm our full commitment to the entirety of the President’s 20-point peace plan and call on all parties to uphold their obligations, exercise restraint, and cooperate with monitoring arrangements,” said a statement posted by Witkoff on X.
Their meeting came amid continuing strains on the agreement.
Gaza’s civil defense said six people were killed Friday in Israeli shelling of a shelter. That brought to 400 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the deal took effect.
Israel has also repeatedly accused Hamas of violating the truce, with the military reporting of its three soldiers killed in the territory since October.
Saturday’s statement cited progress yielded in the first stage of the peace agreement, including expanded humanitarian assistance, return of hostage bodies, partial force withdrawals and a reduction in hostilities.
It called for “the near-term establishment and operationalization” of a transitional administration which is due to happen in the second phase of the agreement, and said consultations would continue in the coming weeks over its implementation.
Under the deal’s terms, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilization force is to be deployed.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed hope that countries would contribute troops for the stabilization force, but also urged the disarmament of Hamas, warning the process would unravel unless that happened.
