Two separate attacks in the restive eastern Libyan city of Benghazi left three people dead, including an air force officer, a security official said Tuesday.

Colonel Adem Faraj al-Abdelli was found shot dead in his car near a cemetary in the eastern city of Benghazi, the official said on condition of anonymity.

And the bodies of a lawyer and her husband were found the day after the couple were kidnapped by unknown attackers, the same source said, without giving details of how they had been killed.

Benghazi, cradle of the 2011 uprising that toppled Moamer Kadhafi, has seen near-daily attacks, mainly targeting security forces, since his downfall.

Militants in the city have also targeted judges, local government officials and journalists in recent months.

On Sunday, a French engineer was shot dead in Benghazi, several days after the bodies of seven Egyptian Coptic Christians, killed execution-style, were found near the city.

Libyan authorities have so far failed to identify those behind the attacks, and no group has claimed responsibility for them.

The weak central government in Tripoli has struggled to rein in heavily-armed former rebel brigades turned militias, which have carved out their own fiefdoms across the vast North African country.