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LIBYA-CONFLICT-TOLL
Death toll of air raid on Libya migrant camp rises to 53: WHO
TRIPOLI, July 5, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The casualty toll of an air strike on a
detention camp for migrants near the Libyan capital has climbed to 53 dead
and 130 wounded, the World Health Organization said Friday.
The UN agency said the deaths in Tuesday night’s strike had raised to
almost 1,000 dead and 5,000 wounded the overall toll of an assault on Tripoli
launched by military strongman Khalifa Haftar in April.
International Organization for Migration spokesman Joel Millman said six
children and at least two migrants due to leave this week under a voluntary
repatriation programme were among those killed.
Seventeen different nationalities, mainly African, were represented among
the 600 migrants at the Tajoura detention centre, he told reporters in
Geneva.
“According to IOM staff on site Thursday, 350 migrants, among them 20
women and four children, remain in detention there,” said Millman.
Charlie Yaxlie, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, also speaking in Geneva, insisted on “a full and independent
investigation to determine how this happened, who was responsible, and for
those individuals to be held to account”.
“The coordinates of detention centres in Tripoli are well-known to both
sides in the conflict, and this was a preventable tragedy that never should
have happened,” Yaxlie said.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1718 hrs