Death toll in battle for Libya’s capital rises to 121
CAIRO — At least 121 people have been killed since a Libyan military commander opened an assault on the capital 10 days ago, igniting clashes with rival militias, the U.N. health agency said Sunday.
The self-styled Libyan National Army, led by Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter, began a surprise offensive against Tripoli on April 5 and is battling rival militias loosely affiliated with a weak U.N.-backed government.
The World Health Organization said that along with the 121 fatalities, an additional 561 have been wounded. It did not specify whether they were fighters or civilians.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than 13,500 people have been displaced, and that “significant numbers of civilians” remain stuck in areas where fighting has escalated.
U.N. envoy Ghassan Salame said a school was bombed in the town of Ain Zara, around 9 miles southeast of Tripoli, without saying who was responsible. Both sides have carried our air strikes in the town, and a spokesman for the Libyan National Army said it has stepped up air strikes on its rivals in the past two days.
Hifter has pledged to unify the country after years of chaos after the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime dictator Moammar Khadafy. He has led previous campaigns against Islamic militants and other rivals in eastern Libya and has received support from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Russia and France.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi met with Hifter in Cairo on Sunday, the presidency said, without providing further details.
Samy Magdy is an Associated Press writer.