Almost 1,000 dead in battle for Tripoli: UN

A total of 53 migrants were killed and 130 injured in an air raid on the Tajoura shelter east of Tripoli this week, bringing the death toll in the three-month-old battle for the capital to nearly 1,000, while over 5,000 people have been injured, the United Nations said Friday.

"The casualties of this week's attack on a migrant centre in Tajoura are 53 dead and 130 injured, making the overall toll of the Tripoli conflict nearly 1,000 dead and more than 5,000 wounded," the World Health Organisation tweeted.

"WHO urges a rapid and peaceful solution so that all people in Libya are safe from harm."

Libya's internationally recognised government's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it will ask the UN and the international community to investigate the Tajoura bombing - as urged by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who said the attack may be a war crime.

The UN-backed government in Tripoli and Italy's Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini have accused the forces of eastern warlord Khalifa Haftar of carrying out the deadly attack.

Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army has blamed the attack on shelling by militias loyal to the UN-backed government. But LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari announced ongoing airstrikes targeting Tajoura and other cities along the Tripoli front lines just hours before the facility was hit.