Some 205 have been killed and 913 have been wounded in the ongoing battle for Libyan capital Tripoli, says the World Health Organization

TRIPOLI, Libya – At least 205 people have been killed and more than 900 wounded in the battle for control of the Libyan capital Tripoli, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday, April 18.

Fighting broke out on April 4 when military strongman Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive to take Tripoli, seat of the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).

Reporting at least 205 people dead and 913 wounded, WHO said it was keeping medical and surgical teams deployed at field hospitals near the front lines.

More than 25,000 people have been displaced by the clashes between GNA forces and Haftar's fighters south of Tripoli, including 4,500 over the previous 24 hours, the International Organization for Migration said Wednesday. (READ: Clashes rage in Libya despite U.N. truce call)

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said it was the highest single-day increase in displacement. – Rappler.com </s> TRIPOLI (Reuters) - At least 16 people died and 50 were wounded in Libya in four days of clashes between rival factions in the southern city of Sabha, a health official said on Sunday.

According to residents and local reports, the latest bout of violence erupted between two tribes after an incident in which a monkey that belonged to a shopkeeper from the Gaddadfa tribe attacked a group of schoolgirls who were passing by.

The monkey pulled off one of the girls’ head scarf, leading men from the Awlad Suleiman tribe to retaliate by killing three people from the Gaddadfa tribe as well as the monkey, according to a resident who spoke to Reuters.

City officials could not be reached to confirm the accounts.

“There was an escalation on the second and third days with the use of tanks, mortars and other heavy weapons,” the resident told Reuters by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the denigrating security situation.

“There are still sporadic clashes and life is completely shut down in the areas where there has been fighting.”

Like other parts of Libya, Sabha has been periodically plagued by conflict since the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi five years ago splintered the country into warring factions.

In the Sabha region, a hub for migrant and arms smuggling in Libya’s often neglected south, militia abuses and the deterioration of living conditions have been especially acute.

The Gaddadfa and the Awlad Suleiman represent the most powerful armed factions in the region.

During the latest clashes, which took place in the city center, initial attempts by tribal leaders to calm the fighting and arrange a ceasefire so that bodies could be recovered had failed, residents said.

By Sunday, Sabha Medical Centre had received the bodies of 16 people killed in the clashes and some 50 wounded, said a spokesman for the center.

“There are women and children among the wounded and some foreigners from sub-Saharan African countries among those killed due to indiscriminate shelling,” he said.

The city lies about 660km (410 miles) south of Tripoli. </s> At least four people are now known to have been killed in an explosion targeting the funeral of a soldier of the Libyan National Army in Benghazi.The spokesman of the army, Ahmed Mesmary told journalists that a car rigged with explosives had gone off during the funeral of Khalifa Mesmari in Hawari cemetery in Libya’s eastern city on Thursday.

He said aside from the four people killed, 26 others were wounded in the blast as a number of officers of the LNA attended the funeral.

This incident comes amidst an ongoing campaign by the Libyan National Army under the command of Khalifa Hafter to wrest control of Tripoli from the internationally backed National Accord Government.

Meanwhile health officials in the country have put fatality figures since the battle for Tripoli began in April at 100 people killed, 500 wounded and about 120, 000 displaced. </s> Libyan authorities said Wednesday that fighting between rival armed groups in the capital of Tripoli has flared up again, four months after a U.N.-brokered cease-fire.

Malek Merset, spokesman for the Tripoli-based Health Ministry, said at least five people were killed and 20 others wounded Wednesday.

A previous round of fighting, which erupted in August last year, killed at least 96 people, including civilians. The U.N. mission has warned against any breach of the cease-fire, brokered in September.

The fighting between militias allied to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli and an armed group from a nearby town underscores Libya's lingering lawlessness since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed Moammar Gadhafi.

Libya is governed by rival authorities in Tripoli and the country's east, each of which is backed by an array of militias. </s> At least 33 people have been killed and scores more wounded in a double car bomb attack in Benghazi, Libya. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the atrocities.

A vehicle packed with explosives detonated next to Al-Radwan mosque and the headquarters of the Passport Authority in Al-Sleimani neighborhood of the Libyan capital on Tuesday afternoon just as people were leaving prayers. Minutes later a second car parked on the opposite side of the street blew up, causing more casualties among security services who had rushed to the scene and civilians who gathered at the spot of the initial explosion.

The casualty tally has not yet been officially confirmed. At least 33 people died in the dual attack, while at least 50 others were injured, officials told Reuters. Local news outlets report the death toll now stands at 41 dead and 80 wounded.

The city’s al-Jala hospital said it received the corpses of at least 25 people (both civilians and military) who died in the blasts. The hospital added that it is treating another 51 patients. “Some of the injured people were critically wounded, and some of them died of injuries sustained,” a spokesperson for the health facility noted, adding that the death toll could rise.

President of the Libyan House of Representatives Aguila Saleh Issa condemned the attack and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of the “cowardly terrorist act.”

“All Libyans have to unite, reunite, understand and reconcile in order to save their country from this mess, chaos, criminality and terrorism, which impacts all and does not exclude anyone,” he said.

In July, the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by General Khalifa Haftar announced that after more than three years of fighting it has liberated the city from several Islamist militant and jihadist cells belonging to the so-called Revolutionary Shura Council of Benghazi. Despite the claim, lawless elements continued to terrorize the city.

Since the 2011 NATO intervention in Libya, the resulting power vacuum has seen the country descend into chaos with competing groups vying for control. There are currently several centers of power in Libya, with the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli and the one in Tobruk toward the east of the country being the most prominent.

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), Al-Qaeda and other terrorist and jihadist groups have also gained traction in the fractured country plagued by violent clashes between the various competing factions. While no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, Member of Libya’s internationally recognized parliament, MP Khalifa al-Daghari, blamed the “defeated terrorists” for the strikes.

“The cowardly terrorist act carried out by the extremist sleeping cells in the city of Benghazi [resulted] in the killing of a number of innocent citizens in front of the largest mosques in the city,” al-Daghari said. “Extremist groups are destabilizing the city after their defeat and their expulsion from the city.”

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! </s> At least two people have been killed in clashes between rival militias in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.

The fighting on Wednesday violated a UN-brokered ceasefire which was signed four months ago.

"The clashes resulted in two killed and 17 wounded from both civilians and fighters," Tripoli health department official Malik Marsit told Reuters news agency.

The groups involved in the clashes are known as the Seventh Brigade, or Kaniyat, and a collection of factions called Tripoli Protection Force.

The Seventh Brigade and some allied groups triggered the August fighting in a bid to challenge the dominance of four "super militias", including the Tripoli Protection Force, in the streets of the capital.

The UN mission in Libya condemned the renewed fighting in an official statement on Twitter, adding that it "warns parties against any breach of the ceasefire agreement, compromising stability in the capital & endangering lives of civilians & their properties".

"The mission stresses that any party initiating a confrontation will be held fully responsible," it added.

The internationally recognised government in Tripoli, backed by the United Nations, has been working on a new security plan since the ceasefire deal but achieved little as Libya, long a major oil producer, lacks a national police force or army.

During the clashes in September, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) described the situation in the north African country as "desperate", with the fighting, collapsed economy and destruction of infrastructure leaving hundreds of thousands of people "increasingly vulnerable".

"Seven years of war in Libya has driven over 500,000 people to flee their homes," the ICRC said in a tweet.

"For Libyans trying to return home, there's not always much to return to. Houses, schools are often destroyed completely."

The group also cited the sabotaging of health facilities, water and electricity supplies, as well as the dangers of unexploded remnants. </s> TRIPOLI (Reuters) - An air strike on the southern Libyan town of Murzuq has killed more than 30 people, residents said on Monday.

Eastern Libyan forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar confirmed a strike late on Sunday on the town deep in Libya's south but denied they had targeted any civilians. </s> At least 32 people have been killed and around 50 wounded in fighting with strongman Khalifa Haftar’s troops near Tripoli, the UN-backed government said.

Health minister A’hmid Omar gave the updated death toll in an interview with Libya’s Al-Ahrar television station late Sunday. Haftar’s forces have so far said 14 of their fighters have died.

Fierce clashes raged on Sunday near Tripoli between pro-Haftar fighters and troops loyal to the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).

The two sides also exchanged air strikes days after Haftar — who backs an administration in eastern Libya opposed to the GNA — launched an offensive Thursday to seize the capital.

The clashes came despite calls by the United Nations and the United States for an urgent ceasefire.

Pro-GNA forces on Sunday announced a counteroffensive named “Volcano of Anger”.

Spokesman Colonel Mohamed Gnounou said the operation was aimed at “purging all Libyan cities of aggressor and illegitimate forces”, in reference to Haftar’s fighters.

Libya has been riven by divisions since the NATO-backed uprising in 2011 that killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with rival administrations and armed groups vying for power and control of the country’s oil.

Haftar’s offensive has threatened to plunge the country into a full-blown civil war and once again thwart diplomatic efforts to find a solution to Libya’s woes. </s> TRIPOLI: The death toll from clashes between rival militias in the Libyan capital Tripoli has risen to 10 killed and 41 wounded, the health ministry said on Thursday.

Fighting broke out this week between rival armed groups in the south of the capital, breaching a shaky ceasefire brokered by the United Nations in September which had ended four weeks of violence.

The ministry said women and children were also among the casualties.

Two residents told Reuters by phone that heavy gunfire had not ceased for 72 hours in Tripoli's southern suburb of Qaser Bin Ghashir, location of city's international airport which was destroyed in a previous bout of clashes in 2014.

The most recent fighting broke out between a coalition of Tripoli militias, known as the Tripoli Protection Force (TPF), and the 7th Brigade, or Kaniyat, from Tarhouna, a town 65 km (45 miles) southeast of Tripoli.

The Force said in a statement that it controlled Qaser Bin Qashir, posting on the internet pictures of masked fighters and armoured vehicles in the streets of the area.

Reuters was not able to verify this independently.

The 7th Brigade and some allied groups triggered the fighting last August in a bid to challenge the dominance of four “super militias”, including the Tripoli Protection Force, in the streets of the capital.

The internationally-recognised government in Tripoli, backed by the United Nations, has been working on a new security plan since the September ceasefire deal but achieved little.

Libya's streets have been controlled by armed groups since the fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in a 2011 rebellion backed by NATO air strikes. The country now has competing governments operating in the east and west.
More than 40 people, including civilians, have died in clashes in the Libyan city of Tripoli.