Hundreds escape from Tripoli jail amid heavy clashes

SOME 400 prisoners escaped from a jail in Libya’s capital on Sunday while fighting between rival armed groups raged nearby, a judiciary official said, as the United Nations called for the warring parties to meet today.

The inmates forced open the doors of the Ain Zara prison, the official said, confirming a judiciary police statement posted on social media.

The prison is located in southern Tripoli, an area that has experienced heavy fighting between rival groups for the past week.

Separately, on Sunday, a missile fell on the al-fallah camp for displaced Tawergha people, killing two and wounding seven, including two children, said Emad Ergeha, an activist following Tawergha issues. NOC, the state oil firm, confirmed that one of its diesel depots used to supply a power station had been hit by a rocket on Saturday.

Clashes erupted last week between the Seventh Brigade, or Kaniyat, from Tarhouna, a town 40 miles south-east of Tripoli, against the Tripoli Revolutionaries’ Brigade and the Nawasi, two of the capital’s largest armed groups.