It has been reported that at least 16 people have been killed while 52 have been reported wounded in fighting between some of armed groups in Tripoli, Libya the health ministry had reported on Saturday, following the latest politically driven violence which had hit the Libyan capital recently.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the fighting had begun on Thursday night and had also extended into Friday afternoon.
On Saturday, violence erupted in Libya’s third city Misrata, while prompting the United States embassy to warn of the risk of a wider flare-up.
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Misrata is the hometown of both of the rival prime ministers who have been vying for control of what remains of a central government.
The clashes had also pitted a militia loyal to the unity government of Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah against another loyal to his rival Fathi Bashagha, named in February by a parliament based in the country’s east, Libyan media reported.
US ambassador Richard Norland called on all political actors and their supporters among armed groups to stand down in order to avoid escalation.
“Today’s clashes in Misrata demonstrate the dangerous prospect that the recent violence will escalate,” he warned in a tweet.
“Armed efforts either to test or to defend the political status quo risk bringing Libya back to an era its citizens thought had been left behind.”
The Tripoli clashes were between two armed groups with major clout in the west of the war-torn country: the Al-Radaa force and the Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade. Several sources said one group’s detention of a fighter belonging to the other had sparked the fighting, which extended to several districts of the capital.