\n Outrage and calls for an independent probe mounted Wednesday as 44 migrants were killed in an air strike on a detention centre in Libya that the UN said could constitute a war crime.\n<\/p>\n
\n UN chief Antonio Guterres denounced the \"horrendous\" attack and demanded an independent investigation as the Security Council said it would hold urgent talks about the situation in the country.\n<\/p>\n
\n Libya's internationally-recognised government and its arch-foe strongman Khalifa Haftar traded blame for the deadly assault, which the European Union called a \"horrific\" attack.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bodies were strewn on the floor of a hangar in the Tripoli suburb of Tajoura, mixed with the blood-soaked clothes of migrants, an AFP photographer said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"There were bodies, blood and pieces of flesh everywhere,\" a survivor, 26-year-old Al-Mahdi Hafyan from Morocco, told AFP from his hospital bed where he was being treated for a leg wound.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hafyan said he had been detained in the centre for three months, after coming to Libya with a fellow Moroccan hoping to reach Europe across the Mediterranean.\n<\/p>\n
\n His friend survived the attack unscathed, but his T-shirt was stained with other people's blood. \"We were lucky. We were at the back of the hanger.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Tuesday night's strike left a hole around three metres (10 feet) in diameter in the hangar, surrounded by debris ripped from the metal structure by the force of the blast.\n<\/p>\n
\n At least 44 people were killed and more than 130 severely wounded, the UN said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The UN shared the coordinates of the Tajoura centre east of Tripoli with the warring sides to ensure that civilians sheltering there were safe, Guterres said.\n<\/p>\n
\n UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame said the \"attack clearly could constitute a war crime, as it killed by surprise innocent people whose dire conditions forced them to be in that shelter.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Heinous crime' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Around 600 migrants and refugees were held in the Tajoura centre, the compound's head Noureddine al-Grifi said, adding that people were wounded in another hangar.\n<\/p>\n
\n There was no immediate claim of responsibility.\n<\/p>\n
\n But the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) denounced the attack as a \"heinous crime\" and blamed it on the \"war criminal Khalifa Haftar\", who in early April launched an offensive to seize the capital.\n<\/p>\n
\n Wednesday evening a spokesman for Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) said: \"The (pro-Haftar) forces deny their responsibility in the attack on the migrant centre of Tajoura\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Ahmad al-Mesmari blamed the attack on the GNA, accusing it of \"plotting\" against the LNA.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We never target civilians. Our armed forces are professional and accurate in their strikes,\" Mesmari said, calling for an investigation into the carnage.\n<\/p>\n
\n The United States condemned an \"abhorrent\" attack and urged a \"de-escalation\", the State Department said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The European Union -- echoing many countries and international organisations -- called for an independent probe.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Those responsible should be held to account\", an EU statement said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The suburb of Tajoura, which has several military sites belonging to pro-GNA armed groups, is regularly targeted in air raids by Haftar's forces.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Migrants 'at risk' -\n<\/p>\n
\n The UN refugee agency deplored the attack.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Migrants and refugees must NOT be detained; civilians must NOT be a target; Libya is NOT a safe place of return\" for migrants and refugees, UNHCR head Filippo Grandi tweeted.\n<\/p>\n
\n Charlie Yaxley, a spokesperson in Geneva, said the UNHCR had asked that the centre be evacuated a few weeks ago after \"a near miss from a similar air strike\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The centre was thought to have been used to store weapons, he added.\n<\/p>\n
\n The UN's mission in Libya has said around 3,500 migrants and refugees held in detention centres near the combat zone are at risk.\n<\/p>\n
\n Wracked by chaos since the 2011 uprising against dictator Moamer Kadhafi, Libya has become a major conduit for migrants seeking to reach Europe and remains prey to numerous militias vying for control of the country's oil wealth.\n<\/p>\n
\n Rights groups say migrants face horrifying abuses in Libya, and their plight has worsened since Haftar launched the offensive against Tripoli.\n<\/p>\n
\n More than 700 people have been killed and 4,000 wounded since the assault began in early April, while nearly 100,000 have been displaced, according to UN agencies.\n<\/p>\n
\n The two rival camps accuse each other of using foreign mercenaries and enjoying military support -- especially air backing -- from foreign powers.\n<\/p>\n
\n Late Wednesday flights were suspended at Mitiga, Tripoli's only functioning airport, a statement by airport authorities said, after Haftar's forces launched an air strike on the facility.\n<\/p>\n
\n A security source said the raid caused no casualties or damage.\n<\/p>\n
\n LNA spokesman Mesmari said a \"drone command centre\" at Mitiga was destroyed in the raid.\n<\/p>\n
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Outrage and calls for an independent probe mounted Wednesday as 44 migrants were killed in an air strike on a detention centre in Libya that the UN said could constitute a war crime. UN chief Antonio Guterres denounced the \"horrendous\" attack and demanded an independent investigation as the Security Council said it would hold urgent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-41837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n