“Clashes ensued for several hours and we are hearing that at least two people were killed and dozens were injured but that number may rise,” said Traina, adding health officials were not able to reach the areas where the clashes occurred. ‘Situation still tense’Īl Jazeera’s Malik Traina, reporting from Tripoli, said a group affiliated with Prime Minister Dbeibah stormed a military base belonging to another armed group affiliated with the parallel government of Bashagha. The US embassy in Libya said it was “very concerned” about the fighting. The UN’s Libya mission called for “an immediate cessation of hostilities”, citing “ongoing armed clashes including indiscriminate medium and heavy shelling in civilian-populated neighbourhoods”, which it said damaged hospitals. He called on those involved to cease all attacks.Īli told Al-Ahrar television an unknown number of civilians had been wounded but his service was “having difficulties moving around”. Local media reported houses and cars were damaged in the violence between fighters from rival militia leaders – Haitham al-Tajouri and Abdel-Ghani al-Kikli.Ī spokesman for the ambulance and emergency services in Tripoli, Osama Ali, held parties involved in the clashes responsible for the safety of civilians, reported local media. It did not directly respond to the assertion it was linked to the clashes. It accused Bashagha of backing out of talks to resolve the crisis.īashagha’s administration said in a statement it never rejected talks and its overtures were rejected by Dbeibah. Dbeibah has refused to step aside, pledging to hold on to power until elections take place.Ī GNU statement said the latest clashes in Tripoli were triggered by fighters aligned with Bashagha firing on a convoy in the capital while other pro-Bashagha units massed outside the city. Under a UN deal signed last year, Dbeibah was expected to hand over power after the December presidential elections.
LIVESTATION LIBYA AL AHRAR INSTALL
The United Nations has voiced concern after the Tobruk-based parliament voted to install Bashagha as prime minister.
Tensions have risen after Fathi Bashagha, backed by the east-based parliament, was sworn in as prime minister in February amid calls for Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, head of the transitional government based in Tripoli, The Government of National Unity (GNU), to cede power. Smoke rises in the sky following clashes in Tripoli on Saturday “We could not stay any longer and survive,” he said. Tripoli University said it was suspending classes because of the fighting.Īli, a 23-year-old student who declined to give his surname, said he fled his apartment along with his family during the night after bullets struck their building. There was no immediate comment from the interior and health ministries about the fighting, which paused in the morning before resuming. “We stayed awake in case we had to leave quickly. The sound was too loud and too frightening,” said Abdulmenam Salem, a central Tripoli resident.
My family and I could not sleep because of the clashes. The country’s democratic transition was delayed after the presidential elections scheduled for last December were postponed indefinitely.
The violence on Saturday comes in the wake of a build-up of rival forces in Tripoli over the past week as they jostle for power while the North African country remains divided between rival administrations in the east and the west.Īt least 12 people were killed and 87 others wounded in the fighting, according to the health ministry in the capital, Tripoli. Deadly clashes broke out between rival Libyan militias in the centre of Tripoli with the sound of gunfire echoing through the heavily populated part of the capital city threatening two years of relative peace.
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