At least 40 people have died in an airstrike on a migrant detention centre in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

Another 80 people have been injured in the attack according to a health official, which is being blamed on forces loyal to rebel leader Khalifa Haftar, who launched an offensive to take Tripoli from the internationally recognised government three months ago.

Malek Mersek, spokesman for a state emergency medical services, said 40 people had been killed and 80 wounded in the strike on the detention centre in the Tajoura suburb located next to a military camp.

The Tripoli-based government said in a statement that dozens of people had been killed and wounded in an airstrike blamed on the "war criminal Khalifa Haftar".

Libya is the main jumping off point for thousands of Africans trying to reach Europe. Many are held in government-run detention centres in western Libya in what human rights groups and the United Nations say are often inhuman conditions.

Tajoura, east of Tripoli's centre, is home to several military camps of forces allied to Libya's government, which have been targeted by airstrikes for weeks.

Tripoli is besieged by Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA). It denied hitting the detention camp, claiming it had been shelled by militias loyal to the Libyan government.

Rival factions have been battling for control of Libya and its vast oil and gas reserves since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The country has also become a proxy battleground for regional powers trying to exert their influence.

The LNA has for years been armed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, while Turkey has shipped weapons to the Tripoli government. </s> Libyan official says airstrike kills 40 migrants in Tripoli

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — A Libyan health official says an airstrike has hit a detention center for migrants in a suburb of the capital of Tripoli, killing at least 40 people.

Malek Merset, a spokesman for the health ministry of the U.N.-supported government, says the airstrike on the Tajoura detention center also wounded 80 migrants.

In a statement, the U.N.-supported government blamed the self-styled Libyan National Army, led by commander Khalifa Hifter, for the airstrike.

Libya is split between two warring governments and Hifter's forces control much of the country's east and south. </s> An airstrike hit a detention centre for migrants early Wednesday in the Libyan capital, killing at least 40 people, a health official in the country’s UN-supported government said.

The airstrike targeting the detention centre in Tripoli’s Tajoura neighbourhood also wounded 80 migrants, said Malek Merset, a spokesman for the health ministry. Merset posted photos of migrants who were being taken in ambulances to hospitals.

Footage circulating online and said to be from inside the migrant detention centre showed horrific images of blood and body parts mixed with rubble and migrants’ belongings.

The UN refugee agency in Libya condemned the airstrike on the detention centre, which houses 616 migrants and refugees.

The Tripoli-based government blamed the self-styled Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Hifter, for the airstrike and called for the U.N. support mission in Libya to establish a fact-finding committee to investigate.

A spokesman for Hifter forces did not immediately answer phone calls and messages seeking comment. Local media reported that LNA had launched airstrikes against a militia camp near the detention centre.

The LNA launched an offensive against the weak Tripoli-based government in April. Hifter’s forces control much of the country’s east and south but were dealt a significant blow last week when militias allied with the Tripoli government reclaimed the strategic town of Gharyan, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the capital.

Gharyan had been a key supply route for the LNA forces.

The fighting for Tripoli has threatened to plunge Libya into another bout of violence on the scale of the 2011 conflict that ousted longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi and led to his death.

At least 6,000 migrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and other nations are locked in dozens of detention facilities in Libya that are run by militias accused of torture and other human rights abuses. Most of the migrants were apprehended by European Union-funded and -trained Libyan coast guards while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe.

The detention centres have limited food and other supplies for the migrants, who made often-arduous journeys at the mercy of abusive traffickers who hold them for ransom money from families back home.

The U.N. refugee agency has said that more than 3,000 migrants are in danger because they are held in detention centres close to the front lines between Hifter’s forces and the militias allied with the Tripoli government.

Libya became a major crossing point for migrants to Europe after the 2011 ouster and killing of Gadhafi, when the North African nation was thrown into chaos, armed militias proliferated and central authority fell apart. </s> Pope Francis waves to the crowds gathered for his General Audience, May 8, 2019. (Daniel Ibanez/EWTN)

Pope Francis Prays for Migrants Killed in Airstrike in Libya

At least 53 people died and more than 130 others were injured in the attack July 3 on the Tajoura refugee camp and detention center east of Tripoli.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis prayed Sunday for the victims of the airstrike that hit a migrant detention center in Libya, and called upon the international community to condemn the violence.

“I invite you to pray for the poor defenseless people killed or wounded by the airstrike,” Pope Francis said in his Angelus address July 7.

"The international community cannot tolerate such serious facts,” the pope said.

At least 53 people died and more than 130 others were injured in the attack July 3 on the Tajoura refugee camp and detention center east of Tripoli.

"I pray for the victims: the God of peace welcomes the dead to himself and supports the wounded,” Francis said.

There are an estimated 3,300 people held in migrant detention centers around Tripoli, where armed conflict has been ongoing since the Libyan National Army led by Gen. Khalifa Haftar launched an attack on the Libyan capital in April.

“I hope that the humanitarian corridors for the most needy migrants will be organized in a concerted and extended way,” the pope said.

The United Nations Security Council called for a cease-fire in Tripoli on July 5 following the deadly attack. Others have been calling upon the Libyan government to close their migrant detention centers.

On July 8, Pope Francis will celebrate a Mass for refugees and migrants in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Mass marks the sixth anniversary of the pope’s trip to Lampedusa, an island that serves as the first destination for many African migrants en route to Europe.

In his Angelus address, Pope Francis also prayed for victims of violence in Afghanistan, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

“Our prayer should not be limited only to our needs and our necessities: a prayer is truly Christian if it also has a universal dimension,” the pope said.

“Each of us, here in the piazza, can think of the name they received on their baptism day, the name is ‘written in heaven,’ in the heart of God the Father,” Pope Francis said. “It is the joy of this gift that makes every disciple a missionary, one who walks in the company of the Lord Jesus, who learns from Him to spend himself without reserve for others.” </s> TRIPOLI, July 2 (Reuters) - An air strike late on Tuesday hit a detention centre for migrants in the Tajoura suburb of the Libyan capital of Tripoli, an official said.

There were casualties among the migrants, said the official who works in the department to combat illegal migration that runs the centre.

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Twitter that it was "extremely concerned about ... accounts of refugees and migrants deceased".

Tajoura is home to several military camps of forces allied to Libya's internationally recognised government which has been battling eastern forces trying to take Tripoli.

On Monday, the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) said it would start heavy air strikes on targets in Tripoli after "traditional means" of war had been exhausted.

The LNA has failed to take Tripoli in three months of fighting and last week lost its main forward base in Gharyan which was taken back by Tripoli forces.

Libya is a main departure point for migrants from Africa and Arab countries trying to reach Italy by boat. Thousands are held in government-run detention centres. </s> TRIPOLI (Reuters) - An air strike on a detention centre for illegal migrants in a suburb of the Libyan capital killed 40 and wounded 80, a health official said.

Pictures published by Libyan officials showed African migrants being treated in a hospital after the strike. </s> Libyan official says airstrike kills 40 migrants in Tripoli

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — An airstrike hit a detention center for migrants early Wednesday in the Libyan capital, killing at least 40 people, a health official in the country's U.N.-supported government said.

The airstrike targeting the detention center in Tripoli's Tajoura neighborhood also wounded 80 migrants, said Malek Merset, a spokesman for the health ministry said. Merset posted photos of migrants who were being taken in ambulances to hospitals.

In a statement, the U.N.-supported government blamed the self-styled Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Hifter, for the airstrike.

The LNA launched an offensive against the weak Tripoli-based government in April. Hifter's forces control much of the country's east and south but were dealt a significant blow last week when militias allied with the Tripoli government reclaimed the strategic town of Gharyan, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the capital.

Gharyan had been a key supply route for the LNA forces.

The fighting for Tripoli has threatened to plunge Libya into another bout of violence on the scale of the 2011 conflict that ousted longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi and led to his death.

Thousands of migrants are detained in Libya after being apprehended by local forces funded by the European Union and are now caught up in the armed conflict. The centers have limited food and other supplies, and international agencies have called for speeding up resettlement of the migrants. </s> Fighting for control of the Libyan capital escalated dramatically on Monday when rebel forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar carried out an airstrike on city's only operating airport.

The attack came amid reports that the internationally recognised government of National Accord led by Fayyez al-Sarraj had begun conscripting migrants held in detention centres to fight against Gen Haftar's troops.

At least one jet was seen firing rockets at the Mitiga airport in northern Tripoli on Monday afternoon. The airport said it would be closed for the foreseeable future.

No casualties were reported. At least 2,800 people have been displaced since Gen Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army launched an assault on Tripoli last week.

The LNA said on Monday that 19 of its soldiers had been killed in recent days. The Tripoli based health ministry, on the government side, said at least 25 people including fighters and civilians had been killed and 80 wounded in fighting to the south of the capital.

The World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations' health agency, said two doctors had been killed while treating civilians and trying to evacuate patients from combat zones in the city.

Ahmed Al Mandhari, the WHO's regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, said in a statement Monday that the targeting of doctors was "unacceptable."

Gen Haftar announced his assault on Thursday, citing the need to clear the city of "terrorists".

Tracking progress on the ground is difficult partly because both sides are made up of loose alliances of militia groups rather than professional armies. But despite clashes in the southern suburbs, the LNA advance appears to have made little progress.

Residents said LNA troops retreated from the former international airport, 15 miles south of the city centre, on Monday.

Analysts say Gen Haftar’s assault has compelled the disparate militia groups who control western Libya to band together, presenting a harder target than he may have anticipated.

“He created that alliance by going in to early, too strong,” said Jalel Harchaoui, a research fellow at the Clingdendael Institute, a think tank.

“It prompted potential opponents who were considering siding with Haftar to do an about face and fight him.”

Mr Harchaoui warned that the international community appeared to have little if any diplomatic leverage to reign in the fighting and that the situation could “worsen dramatically.”

“If the airstrikes continue escalating, you could see the two camps committed in a very blind manner to saving face, and that means a lot of destruction,” he said.

Meanwhile reports emerged that the internationally recognised government is offering migrants held in detention centres their freedom in exchange for military service.

Thousands of asylum seekers, many of them sub-Saharan Africans, are stuck in detention centres along the coast around Tripoli, hoping to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. Many did national service in their own countries. “Reports of some Sudanese being released, given military uniforms and told that they may have to fight,” Vincent Cochetel, special envoy of the UNHCR for the central Mediterranean, wrote on Twitter. He also said that the situation for asylum seekers in Libya is becoming increasingly desperate as fighting escalates between the two sides. Vehicles and militants, reportedly from the Misrata militia, gather to join Tripoli forces, in Tripoli “Unverifiable reports received suggesting that no more food is reaching some detention centres in Libya, where refugees and militants are kept arbitrarily,” Mr Cochetel said. Medicins San Frontieres, an NGO, said the fighting has left refugees and migrants in detention centres "exceptionally vulnerable." "The Ain Zara detention centre is now in an area of active fighting, with more than 600 vulnerable people trapped inside, including women and children. In another detention centre, reports suggest that some people are being conscripted to work for armed groups," the group said in a statement. The European Union's foreign policy chief called on all sides to stop fighting and start talking. Speaking at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, Federica Mogherini said all sides should "go back to the negotiating table under the auspices of the UN and make sure that the Libyan people get what they really want, which is peace and stability for their country." Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, said Britain was engaging “all partners” to send the message that there is “no military solution” to the crisis. Earlier he said there was “no justification” for the LNA assault. </s> BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — An airstrike hit a detention center for migrants near the Libyan capital early Wednesday, killing at least 44 people and wounding more than 130, the U.N. mission to the war-torn country said.

The airstrike raises further concerns about the European Union's policy of partnering with Libyan militias to prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean, which often leaves them at the mercy of brutal traffickers or stranded in squalid detention centers near the front lines.

It could also lead to greater Western pressure on Khalifa Hifter, a Libyan general whose forces launched an offensive on Tripoli in April. The Tripoli-based government blamed his self-styled Libyan National Army for the airstrike and called for the U.N. to investigate.

A spokesman for Hifter's forces did not immediately answer phone calls and messages seeking comment. Local media reported the LNA had launched airstrikes against a militia camp near the detention center in Tripoli's Tajoura neighborhood.
A Libyan National Army airstrike on a suburb of Tripoli hits a detention centre for illegal migrants, killing at least 53 people and injuring 80 people.