An airstrike that hit a civilian area in a southern neighborhood of the Libyan capital killed at least four children, the country’s health ministry said Monday.
Tripoli has been the scene of fighting since April between the self-styled Libyan National Army, led by Gen. Khalifa Hifter, and an array of militias loosely allied with the U.N.-supported but weak government, which holds Tripoli.
It wasn’t immediately who was behind the Sunday airstrike on the al-Sawani neighborhood, about 30 kilometers, or 18 miles, from the city center but the Libyan interior ministry blamed the Libyan National Army. The force did not return calls seeking comment.
The health ministry spokesman Malek Merset said a fifth child was wounded in the attack and shared graphic photographs of lifeless bodies and an image of a wounded child, purportedly from the attack.
The fighting for Tripoli has killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands. It has stalled in recent months, with both sides dug in and shelling one another along the city’s southern reaches.
