More than 120 killed in Libya as thousands flee battle for Tripoli

Fighting near Tripoli has killed 121 people since strongman Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive earlier in April to take the Libyan capital, says the World Health Organisation.

In clashes between Haftar’s forces and those of the UNbacked Government of National Accord (GNA), both sides have proclaimed advances but neither appears to have taken a substantial lead on the ground.

With more than 560 people wounded since the fighting started on April 4, the WHO said it is sending more medical supplies and staff to Tripoli.

The UN organisation denounced “repeated attacks on health-care workers” and vehicles during the fighting, in messages on its Libya Twitter feed.

“Three medical personnel have been killed and five ambulances have been incapacitated by shrapnel,” the UN’s office for humanitarian affairs said.

The violence has sparked global alarm about the country that has been in turmoil since Nato-backed forces overthrew Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Haftar, who leads the selfstyled Libyan National Army (LNA), has pushed from his power base in the country’s east towards the Libyan capital in the west, the seat of the UN-backed unity government led by Fayez al-Sarraj.

Haftar has the support of Egypt and Russia. On Sunday he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, where the duo were “discussing the latest developments in Libya”, according to state media.

With gunfire now echoing through city blocks and tanks rumbling through towns and districts south of Tripoli, many residents have fled their homes. More than 13,500 people have been displaced and over 900 are now living in shelters, said the UN.

Both sides have launched daily air raids and accuse each other of targeting civilians. One air strike, which the GNA blames on Haftar’s forces, hit a school south of Tripoli.

On Sunday, the UN mission in Libya warned that international humanitarian law “prohibits the bombing of schools, hospitals, ambulances and civilian areas”.