Death toll from Tripoli clashes climbs to 96

Violence has shattered a UN-brokered ceasefire reached earlier this month

The death toll from weeks of fighting between armed groups in Libya’s capital Tripoli has climbed to at least 96 people, including civilians, authorities said yesterday.

The violence has shattered a United Nations-brokered ceasefire reached earlier this month. In addition to the fatalities, the clashes have wounded 444 people. Also, 16 people are missing.

The Health Ministry the fighting, which said first erupted on August 26, has also displaced at least 123 families from their homes.

On Thursday, 11 people, including eight civilians, were killed and 33 others were wounded in southern Tripoli, the ministry added.

The UN mission tweeted on Thursday, urging warring parties “to immediately cease all acts of violence in Tripoli.”

The fighting between militias allied to the UN-backed government in Tripoli and an armed group from the nearby town of Tarhouna, about 60 kilometres south, underscores Libya’s lingering lawlessness since the uprising that toppled and later killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.