TRIPOLI: Two Libyan policemen were wounded late Monday when an improvised bomb hit their patrol car in the eastern city of Benghazi, a security official told AFP.

"A national security patrol unit was targeted in the neighbourhood of Al-Zeituna in the centre of Benghazi by an explosive device thrown under the car," said the security official.

The blast comes two days after the Italian consul to Benghazi, Guido De Sanctis, escaped a gun attack unscathed while inside his armoured vehicle in the Mediterranean city.

Benghazi was the cradle of the 2011 revolt that toppled Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi. The number of attacks against military and police officers, including ones who served the former regime, has recently increased there.

It has also emerged as a hub for jihadist groups, including militants who killed US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in an attack on the US consulate on September 11 last year.