Women carry banners during a funeral ceremony for those, who died in rocket attacks by East Libya-based forces led by commander Khalifa Haftar at the Abu Salim neighborhood, at Martyrs' Square in Tripoli, Libya on April 17, 2019. (Hazem Turkia/Anadolu Age
BENGHAZI, Libya: Six civilians were killed in heavy shelling on a residential neighborhood in Libya's capital, a health official said Wednesday, the latest escalation in fighting between rival militias over control of Tripoli.
The overnight rocket shelling on the high-density residential district of Abu Slim, less than 7 kilometers (around 4.5 miles), from the city center, prompted condemnation "in the strongest terms" from the U.N. envoy for Libya.
"The use of indiscriminate, explosive weapons in civilian areas constitutes a war crime," said Ghassan Salame without naming the shelling source.
The fighting, which erupted on April 5, pits the Libyan National Army, led by commander Khalifa Hifter and aligned with a rival government in the east, against militias affiliated with Tripoli's U.N.-supported government.
Both sides blamed the other for the shelling, which wounded at least 26 people, according to Malek Merset, a spokesman for the health ministry in Tripoli.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday the heavy weapons and shelling damaged houses, schools and civilian infrastructure in and around Tripoli.
He said the number of people displaced due to hostilities in the Tripoli area has increased to near 20,000, including more than 2,500 in the last 24 hours, according to the U.N. migration agency.
Fifty civilian casualties have been confirmed so far, including 14 deaths, but these individually verified cases must be considered "a minimum," Dujarric said.
The clashes threaten to re-ignite civil war such as the 2011 one that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Since Gahdafi's ouster, Libya has been governed by rival authorities in the east and in Tripoli, in the west, each backed by various militias and armed groups fighting over resources and territory.
