At least seven people were killed and ten wounded when a car bomb exploded on a busy street in the centre of the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi last night, a hospital medic said.

The bomb exploded behind the Tibesti hotel, the city’s biggest, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, on a street where people were taking a stroll after a day of fasting in the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

No more details on the bombing were immediately available. Eight cars parked on the street lined with shops were destroyed.

Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city, is controlled by the Libyan National Army (LNA), the dominant force in eastern Libya led by commander Khalifa Haftar.

The LNA was battling Islamists, including some linked to Daesh and Al-Qaeda, as well as other opponents until late last year in the Mediterranean port city.

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Security has improved since then, but two mosque bombings earlier this year killed at least 35 people.

Haftar launched his military campaign in Benghazi in May 2014 in response to bombings and assassinations blamed on Islamist militants, part of anarchy that ensued after a NATO-backed uprising ended Muammar Gaddafi’s rule in 2011.