CAIRO: Clashes between two heavily armed militia groups in Libya's capital have terrorized residents and killed about a dozen people, the latest outbreak of violence in the largely lawless North African nation, officials said Saturday.
The hours-long clashes, involving heavy weapons, took place in Tripoli's eastern Tajoura neighborhood on Friday between the Rahba Al-Duruae militia, which is led by warlord Bashir Khalfallah – known as Al-Baqrah – and another militia Al-Shahida Sabriya, the officials added.
The Health Ministry's Ambulance and Emergency Services said at least nine people were killed and 16 others injured in the clashes that lasted several hours.
The clashes stemmed from an assassination attempt on Al-Baqrah on Friday, which its militia blamed on Al-Shahida Sabriya, according to local media reports.
Khaled Al-Meshry, newly elected head of the Western High 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. Its spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
The UN mission in Libya on Saturday deplored 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, establish legitimate and accountable institutions,” it said in a statement. “They also underline the urgent need to accelerate an inclusive political process leading to credible elections.”
The violence underscored the fragility of war-torn Libya following the 2011 uprising-turned-civil war that toppled and later killed longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi. Amid the chaos, militias have grown in wealth and power, particularly in Tripoli and the western part of the country.
Libya has been divided for years between rival administrations in the east and west, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments. It is currently governed by Dbeibah's government in Tripoli and Prime Minister Ossama Hammad's administration in the east.
Western Libya is controlled by a number of lawless militias allied with Dbeibah's government, while the forces of powerful military commander Khalifa Haftar control the east and south of the country.
Friday's militia infighting was the latest in a series of clashes between militias vying for influence in the west of the country.
In May, militia clashes rocked the coastal town of Zawiya, trapping families in their homes, killing at least one person and wounding 22 others. And last August, a 24-hour period of fighting between rival militias in Tripoli killed at least 45 people.
The capital's clashes came as Haftar's forces said they had deployed troops to southwestern areas to secure Libya's southern borders. The deployment prompted militias in western Libya to mobilize amid growing concerns about a potential new war between eastern and western Libya.
The United Nations mission and Western embassies in Libya have expressed concern that the military movement could explode into an all-out war between Haftar's forces and Western militias, four years after a ceasefire agreement ended a war of 14 months between the two. swill.
“Such moves risk escalation and violent confrontation and could jeopardize the 2020 ceasefire,” said a joint statement by the embassies of France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US.
