Geneva - Health facilities near Tripoli have reported 47 people killed and 181 wounded in recent days as eastern forces seek to take Libya’s capital from an internationally-recognised government, the United Nations’ health body said on Tuesday.
The renewed conflict in a nation splintered since the 2011 toppling of Muammar Gaddafi also risks draining medical supplies, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday strongly condemned the military escalation near Tripoli and called for an immediate halt to the fighting.
Thousands of people scrambled to flee the violence in and around Tripoli, the United Nations said Monday, as a warplane attacked the Libyan capital’s only functioning airport amid an escalation in fighting.
Maria do Valle Ribeiro, the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for Libya, said in a statement that about 2,800 people had fled the clashes since late last week, when Gen. Khalifa Haftar began his onslaught to seize the capital.
The violence in some areas was so intense that civilians were unable to leave and emergency services were unable to reach them, according to another U.N. report. An additional 1,300 refugees and migrants in detention centers near the front lines were also in danger.
