(Adds attacks in Tripoli)
TRIPOLI, July 16 (Reuters) - A Libyan air force colonel was shot dead in the eastern city of Derna, a military spokesman said on Tuesday, an Islamist stronghold plagued by attacks on security officials.
Violence has worsened in Libya in recent months as the government tries to impose its authority on armed militias that helped overthrow Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Islamists, who were suppressed under Gaddafi, have also come to the fore.
Unidentified assailants shot Colonel Fathi al-Omami on Monday evening after as he visited a shop he owned in Derna, overlooking the Mediterranean coast.
"He was trying to open the shop. A car was apparently waiting for him and those inside shot him," said Ali Sheikhi, spokesman for the army chief of staff's office.
The state news agency LANA said residents carried Omami to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Derna is known across the region as a recruitment centre for militants who have joined wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
The east of Libya, and especially the city of Benghazi, the cradle of the anti-Gaddafi uprising, has became a particular focus of violence, mainly against security forces. Residents say some of the assaults may be revenge attacks by former prisoners.
In Tripoli, bombs exploded in a military vehicle and three cars used by people working for the military police, government spokesman Abdulsalam al-Sherief said. There were no casualties. (Reporting by Ghaith Shennib; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Alistair Lyon)
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