Among the dead were Somalis and Eritreans who had been travelling in a truck packed with migrants, the source said. No more details were immediately available.
Bani Walid hospital manager Mohamed al-Mabrouk said the truck had flipped over about 80 km (50 miles) south of Bani Walid. At least 78 people had been injured, eight of them seriously, he said.
“We did not receive the driver (at the hospital), and we don’t know what has happened to him,” Mabrouk said.
“Most likely he’s survived otherwise he would be brought here.”
Military sources said the victims included Eritrean and Somali citizens.
Bani Walid, located south of Tripoli, is a hub for smugglers who bring sub-Saharan migrants by road from neighbouring countries up towards Libya’s Mediterranean coast.
From northern Libya, many of the migrants attempt to cross to Italy in flimsy inflatable dinghies.
They are often held and transported in brutal conditions, passed between smugglers who take payments for different stages of the journey and extort money from migrants.
