World Bulletin / News Desk

Gunmen shot dead a Libyan marine colonel on Wednesday in the eastern city of Benghazi where gunmen have increasingly targeted security forces in a challenge to central government control.

Wednesday's attack killed Col. Salih Al Hidary from the Libyan Marines force, and followed assaults that killed two other officers in Benghazi a few days earlier.

"He was driving his car with his son when he was targeted," said a senior Libyan security source. "Many bullets penetrated his body, he died immediately, while his son is in intensive care with a gunshot wound to the head."

On Sunday, an air force officer was killed when a bomb was attached to his vehicle in Benghazi, while a colonel working for the Libyan intelligence was gunned down in front of his house as he left for work in the city.

A police patrol was also targeted in an rocket-propelled grenade attack at one of the main entrances to the city, though no injuries were reported, security sources said.