A former head of Libya's coastguard, who was known as a key trafficker of people and fuel, has been shot dead by unknown assailants, local media reported Monday.

Major Abd al-Rahman Milad, also known as Al-Bidja, was killed on Sunday in the town of Sayyad, 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of the capital Tripoli.

He was killed near the Janzour Naval Academy that he commanded, officials told local media.

Images on news websites and social media showed a bullet-riddled white four-wheel-drive vehicle at the side of a road, with a man's body inside.

The media reports did not speculate about the attackers' identities, political affiliations or motivation.

"I followed with great sorrow the details of the heinous attack on Major Abd al-Rahman Milad" Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah posted on X.

He said he had asked the authorities to conduct an "urgent investigation".

Abdallah Allafi, of Libya's Presidential Council, vowed in a Facebook post that the perpetrators would "not escape divine punishment".

Milad, 34, had gained notoriety as a local kingpin in smuggling operations, trafficking everything from migrants to petrol.

Libyan authorities arrested him in October 2020, before he was released the following April and later named head of a coastguard unit tasked with combatting illegal migration.

An Interpol red notice was issued against him in June 2018 following a UN Security Council decision sanctioning six heads of migrant trafficking networks in Libya.

Allafi is from Zawiya west of Tripoli, and is the deputy head of the Presidential Council that brings together the three main regions of the war-torn North African country.

Libya has been wracked by divisions and conflict since the 2011 NATO-backed overthrow of former president Moamer Kadhafi, with two rival administrations in the east and west vying for power.

Amid the chaos that has gripped Libya over the past decade, the country has become a key launching pad for migrants mostly from sub-Saharan African countries who seek better lives in Europe.

Zawiya has been a departure point for migrants, and lies close to a major oil refinery controlled by armed groups who often clash, resulting in civilian deaths.