Air strike on south Libyan town kills at least 43
LNA confirmed a strike on Murzuq, but denied it had targeted any civilians. The LNA had also denied it had hit detention centre but acknowledged increased air strikes on the capital
A drone air strike by eastern Libyan forces on the southern Libyan town of Murzuq has killed at least 43 people, a local official said on Monday.
The atack is the second major air strike blamed on the eastern Libyan National Army (LNA) forces loyal to Khalifa Hatar ater at least 44 migrants were killed in June when a detention centre in a suburb of the capital Tripoli was hit.
The LNA confirmed a strike late on Sunday on Murzuq, but denied it had targeted any civilians. The LNA had also denied it had hit the detention centre but acknowledged increased air strikes on the capital.
The internationally recognised government based in Tripoli opposing Hatar said dozens were killed and wounded in Murzuq.
Reached by telephone, Murzuq municipal council member Mohamed Omar told Reuters: “The air strike resulted in 43 killed and 51 wounded. This is only an initial toll of casualties.”
The LNA seized Murzuq at the start of this year as part of an offensive to control the oil-producing south. But it later moved out to concentrate forces north where it has been trying to take the capital Tripoli in a four-month campaign.
The LNA said in a statement its strike had targeted “Chadian opposition fighters,” a phrase that usually refers to Tebu tribesmen opposing them in the area.
Hatar’s LNA, allied to a parallel government based in eastern Libya, has seen its advance on Tripoli held up by robust defences on the outskirts of the capital, and said it would start heavy air strikes ater “traditional means” of war had been exhausted.
On Sunday, the UN Libya mission (UNSMIL) condemned in a statement “the repeated indiscriminate shelling” of Tripoli’s only functioning airport ater several strikes in the past days.
The United Nations did not name the LNA but said the atacks had “continued unabated” since the start of the LNA offensive on Tripoli.
There was no immediate UN comment on the Murzuq strike.
A Libyan airliner has narrowly escaped being hit by incoming fire as it landed at war-torn capital Tripoli’s sole functioning airport, aviation officials said.
“The crew on the flight from Benghazi, which was carrying 124 passengers, avoided being hit by bombing on Mitiga International Airport” on Sunday evening, the airport’s management wrote on Facebook.
The incident forced the airport to close to air traffic and re-route flights to Misrata, some 200 kilometres further east, until late on Sunday night.
The origin of the bombs was not clear, and no side has yet claimed responsibility.
Libyan strongman Khalifa Hatar’s forces, who control much of eastern Libya, launched an offensive in April to try to wrest Tripoli from forces backing the Government of National Accord (GNA).
United Nations Libya envoy Ghassan Salame last week warned the Security Council of “the increasing frequency of atacks” on Mitiga airport, controlled by pro-gna forces.
“Several of these atacks have come perilously close to hiting civilian aircrat with passengers on board,” he said.
On Sunday his office condemned the “repeated indiscriminate shelling targeting Mitiga airport, the only indispensable functioning airport available for use by millions of civilians” and aid deliveries in Tripoli.
Mitiga has closed several times since the start of the assault by Hatar, who has accused pro-gna forces of using the airport for military purposes including as a launch site for Turkish drones to atack his forces.
Located a few kilometres east of Tripoli, Mitiga is an former military airbase that has been used by civilian traffic since Tripoli’s international airport suffered severe damage during fighting in 2014.
The World Health Organisation says that fighting since April has let nearly 1,100 people dead and wounded more than 5,750, and forced more than 100,000 civilians to flee their homes.
Meanwhile, France’s President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Egyptian leader Abdel Fatah Al Sisi on Sunday about the situation in Libya calling for a ceasefire “very soon” between the warring sides, the French presidency said.
Macron and Sisi discussed Libya “with the aim of backing the United Nations’ plan for a ceasefire very soon and a renewed dialogue” between Libya’s Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj and Khalifa Hatar, the presidency said.