Outcry as dozens killed in air strike; 130 injured
International condemnation mounted yesterday after more than 40 migrants were killed in an air strike on a detention centre in Libya that the UN-recognised government blamed on rival strongman Khalifa Haftar.
The UN envoy to the North African nation said the raid was a possible war crime, while the European Union denounced the “horrific” attack.
Bodies were strewn on the floor of the hangar in a Tripoli suburb, mixed with the belongings and blood-soaked clothes of migrants, an AFP photographer said.
Tuesday night’s strike left a hole around three metres (10 feet) in diameter at the centre of the hangar, surrounded by debris ripped from the metal structure by the force of the blast.
At least 44 people were killed and more than 130 severely injured, the UN said.
“This attack clearly could constitute a war crime, as it killed by surprise innocent people whose dire conditions forced them to be in that shelter,” UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame said.
He called for the international community to punish those who ordered, carried out and provided arms for the strike, noting it was the second time the facility has been attacked.
An emergency services spokesman Osama Ali told AFP 120 migrants were detained in the hangar which was directly hit by the strike.
In a statement, the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli denounced the attack as a “heinous crime” and blamed it on the “war criminal Khalifa Haftar”.
Turkey, which backs the GNA, called for an international probe into what it called a “crime against humanity”.The European Union called on the UN to launch an investigation.
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