Tripoli’s worst armed clashes in a year have killed 55 people and wounded 146, Libyan media outlets have reported, as a truce took hold.
Fighting erupted on Monday night and raged through Tuesday between the influential 444 Brigade and the Special Deterrence Force, two of the many armed groups that have vied for power since the overthrow of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
In August last year, 32 people were killed and 159 wounded in Tripoli during battles between divided Libya’s two rival administrations that compete for power through shifting alliances with the fighting groups on the ground.
Libya has seen more than a decade of stop-start conflict since the NATO-backed revolt that toppled Gaddafi.
The UN mission in Libya said it was “following with concern” the security deterioration in Tripoli and its impact on civilians.
Human Rights Watch Libya researcher Hanan Salah expressed outrage that the capital’s armed groups continued to settle their differences with heavy weaponry in residential areas without being held accountable.
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