CAIRO: Clashes between two heavily armed militia groups in the Libyan capital terrorized residents and killed about a dozen people, the latest wave of violence in the largely lawless North African country, officials said on Saturday.
The hours-long clashes involving heavy weapons took place on Friday in Tajoura, eastern Tripoli, between the Rahba Al-Duruae militia led by warlord Bashir Khalfallah – known as Al-Baqrah – and another Al-Shahida Sabriya militia, the officials added.
The Ministry of Health's ambulance and emergency services said at least nine people were killed and 16 others were injured in the hours-long clashes.
The clashes stemmed from an assassination attempt on Al-Baqrah on Friday, which his militia blamed on Al-Shahid Sabriya, according to local media reports.
Khaled Al-Meshry, the newly elected head of the western-based Supreme Council of State, condemned the assassination attempt and called for an investigation to hold those responsible accountable.
The warring parties are allied with the government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. Her spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
The UN mission in Libya on Saturday condemned the clashes, the use of heavy weapons in densely populated areas and the military build-up in and around the capital.
“These clashes serve as a reminder of the critical need to unify the military and security apparatus and establish legitimate and accountable institutions,” the statement said. “They also highlight the urgent need to speed up an inclusive political process leading to credible elections.”
The violence underscored the fragility of war-torn Libya after a 2011 uprising turned into civil war that toppled and later killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Amid the chaos, the wealth and power of militias grew, especially in Tripoli and the western part of the country.
For years, Libya has been divided between rival administrations in the east and west, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments. It is currently controlled by Dbeibah's government in Tripoli and Prime Minister Osama Hammad's administration in the east.
Western Libya is controlled by a number of lawless militias linked to the Dbeibah government, while the forces of powerful military commander Khalifa Haftar control the east and south of the country.
Friday's militia fight was the latest in a series of clashes between militias competing for influence in the west of the country.
In May, militia clashes rocked the coastal town of Zawiya, trapping families inside their homes, killing at least one person and wounding 22 others. And in August last year, a 24-hour period of fighting between rival militias in Tripoli killed at least 45 people.
The clashes in the capital came as Haftar's forces said they had deployed troops to the southwestern areas to secure Libya's southern borders. The deployment prompted militias in western Libya to mobilize amid growing fears of a potential new war between eastern and western Libya.
The UN mission and Western embassies in Libya have expressed fears that the military movement could explode into an all-out war between Haftar's forces and Western-based militias, four years after a ceasefire agreement ended a 14-month war between the two countries. parties.
“Such movements risk escalation and violent confrontation and could threaten the ceasefire in 2020,” the embassies of France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US said in a joint statement.
