Deaths from Libya clashes rise to 23

TRIPOLI－The death toll of clashes in the Libyan capital Tripoli has risen to 23, the country's Health Ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry requested that attacks on medical facilities should be avoided, saying that a number of hospitals and medical centers in the city had been damaged. It also said medical teams could not access certain areas to help civilians who made distress calls due to the clashes.

The violent clashes, which have also injured 140, erupted late on Friday in different areas of central Tripoli between armed groups affiliated with two rival governments.

"This is horrible. My family and I could not sleep because of the clashes. The sound was too loud and too frightening," said Abdulmenam Salem, a resident in central Tripoli.

"We stayed awake in case we had to leave quickly. It's a terrible feeling."

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is following with deep concern on reports of the violent clashes, said his spokesman in a statement on Saturday.

Guterres called for an immediate cessation of violence in Tripoli. He urged the Libyan parties to engage in genuine dialogue to address the ongoing political impasse and not use force to resolve their differences, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in the statement.

The UN remains ready to provide good offices and mediation to help Libyan actors chart a way out of the political deadlock, which is increasingly threatening Libya's hard-won stability, added the statement.

The UN mission in Libya said the fighting involved "indiscriminate medium and heavy shelling in civilian-populated neighborhoods" of Tripoli.

The mission called for an immediate cease-fire, and for all parties in Libya to refrain from using any form of hate speech and incitement to violence.

Libya is currently at a political impasse. The eastern-based House of Representatives, or the parliament, withdrew confidence from Prime Minister Abdul-Hamed Dbeibah's National Unity government in Tripoli and voted in March to install a new government led by Fathi Bashagha.

The country has suffered political instability and chaos since Muammar Gaddafi's fall in 2011.

Xinhua - Agencies