Libya Army Colonel, TV Journalist Escape Assassination Bids

A colonel in the restive Libyan city of Benghazi escaped a bomb attack on Tuesday after discovering the device placed under his car outside his home, a security official said.

The incident comes a day after a TV journalist survived an attack in Benghazi after coming under a hail of bullets.

Colonel Jelal al-Arafi discovered the device and immediately ran away from the vehicle when the bomb exploded, security spokesman Colonel Abdallah al-Zayedi said.

"He was injured in the foot and underwent surgery at a hospital in Benghazi," Zayedi said, adding that this was an "attempted assassination."

Cradle of the 2011 uprising that ousted long-time dictator Moammar Gadhafi, Benghazi has been rocked by a series of killings of soldiers and police who served under the former regime.

In recent days, journalists have also come under attack.

On Monday, Khadija al-Ammami, director of Libya Al-Ahrar television's Benghazi office, was shot at several times when she was in her car on the way to her office but miraculously survived, a colleague said.

"Khadija al-Ammami, director of Libya al-Ahrar's Benghazi office, was shot at several times when she was in her car on the way to her office," journalist Rajeb Mohamed Ibliblou said.

Ammami "miraculously" survived the hail of bullets fired by unidentified gunmen, he added.

She later received telephone threats that she would be killed next time.

Ammami had received three previous death threats, said Ibliblou.

That attack came three days after a Libyan doctor who hosted a television program on human development was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Benghazi, Libya's second city.

Azzedine Koussas, a presenter for Libya Al-Hurra television, was hit by several rounds as he sat in his parked car.

Koussos had worked for Radio al-Manara FM before joining Al-Hurra, the country's leading private TV channel, also created after the 2011 revolution.

His program had no political connotations, journalists in Benghazi said.

Libyan media and journalists have been the targets in recent months of attacks and kidnappings by militias.

In May, international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RFS) called on the authorities to rein in allied militia it said were responsible for detaining journalists.

Since the 2011 uprising, the central government has struggled to tame the former rebel groups that toppled Gadhafi.

A journalist with an international news agency was arrested by members of a militia in broad daylight in Benghazi on May 20, RFS said.

A photographer was detained for several hours on May 28 by militiamen nominally under the command of the defense ministry, it added.

Libya's new authorities have struggled to re-establish order and form a professional army since Gadhafi's overthrow and their efforts to woo militiamen to join the security forces have been scorned.