Suffering grows from Libya conflict while jihadists exploit vacuum
World Health Organisation says 47 have been killed and 181 wounded in the battle for Tripoli as Islamist militants kill three and kidnap another in Fuqaha
Tripoli/Geneva — Casualties from the battle for Libya’s capital mounted on Tuesday while Islamic State (IS) killed three people in a desert town, illustrating how jihadists may exploit renewed chaos. Medical facilities reported 47 people killed and 181 wounded in recent days as eastern forces seek to take Tripoli from an internationally recognised government, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said. That was a higher figure than numbers given by either side, and appeared to be made up mainly of fighters, though it also comprised nine civilians including two doctors, WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said in Geneva. The eastern Libyan National Army (LNA) forces of Khalifa Haftar — a former general in ousted strongman Muammar Gaddafi’s army — seized the sparsely populated but oil-rich south earlier in 2019 before heading towards Tripoli earlier in April.
They are fighting on the southern side of the city, where witnesses said on Monday the LNA had lost control of a former airpor...
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