At least 16 people were killed and 52 others were wounded as armed groups loyal to Libya’s rival governments continued to fight in the capital Tripoli and in Misurata, the seats of the country’s competing leaders.

Several sources told media that one of the armed groups detained a fighter belonging to the other, leading to violence in the capital.

On Friday, a group called the 444 Brigade intervened to mediate a truce, sending its forces into a buffer zone before they, too, came under fire, AFP reported.

The clashes in Tripoli began on Thursday and continued on Friday. Violence erupted in Misurata, a coastal city about 200 kilometres to the east, on Saturday, prompting the US government to speak out against escalation.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Friday expressed concern about the clashes, and called on all Libyans to do everything possible to preserve the country’s “fragile stability at this sensitive time.”

Libya has been suffering violence and unrest ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011.