Leishmanolysin GP63 is a zinc metalloprotease, expressed at the surface of Leishmania promastigotes. Studies on this protein are hindered as only a limited number of effective non-toxic inhibitors of this drug target are known. Present study describes the identification of a variety of 2-aryl- and 5-nitro-2-arylbenzimidazoles as new GP63 inhibitors. All the compounds were tested for in vitro activity against the promastigote form of Leishmania major and showed very good activity. 2-(Thiophen-2-yl)-1Hbenzimidazole (19) and 2-(1H-indol-3-yl)-5-nitro-1Hbenzimidazole (34) with IC50 value of 0.62 lg/mL were identified as lead of this library. Molecular docking studies were performed on binding site of GP63 to study the binding mode of compounds. The results of both in vitro and in silico studies clearly indicated that benzimidazoles may serve as new drug candidates in the combat against leishmaniasis.