Hospital spokesperson reveals details of his assassination

Unidentified assailants fatally shot the mayor of Libya's third-largest city, Misrata, late on Sunday, ambushing his car inside the city, security officials said. Gunmen chased the car of Mayor Mohamed Eshtewi after he left Misrata airport following his arrival on a plane from Turkey, a security official said, adding it was unclear who was behind it.

The city hospital said it had received the mayor's body bearing gunshot wounds. His body was found dumped in the street. His brother was with him in the car and was wounded in the attack, a 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 Islamic State group from the coastal city of Sirte last year.

In October, four people were killed in a suicide bombing claimed by IS at the main court building. Libya has been wracked by chaos since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with rival authorities and militias vying for control of the oil-rich country.

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". In October, a bomb exploded at the city's court, killing about four people and wounding 40 others in an attack claimed by ISIS.

Misrata, almost 200 km 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 fearing poor security elsewhere.