Clashes continue in Tripoli, with three killed

At least three people were killed and ten wounded, several critically, in clashes between rival militias that erupted last night and continue Saturday in Tripoli, medical spokesman Malik Merset said.

Libyan authorities urged people to stay indoors as heavy gun battles rage in residential neighbourhoods between armed groups in support of each of the parallel governments vying for power in Libya.

Clashes between Haitham Tajouri's forces, which support the Sirte-based Fathi Bashagha government, and Imad Trabelsi's forces, which support the head of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdulhamid Dbeiba, triggered a new episode of violence last night, including the firing of shells into populated areas.

Medical sources announced the death of the Libyan comedian, known on social networks, Mustafa Baraka, as a result of the clashes while he was doing a live broadcast.

Emergency spokesman Osama Ali confirmed to Efe that several areas remain under siege, such as Bab Bin Ghashir, preventing access to medical services, which have activated "high alert" in all their centres in the capital and the periphery.

The leaders of the city of Misrata, affiliated to the GUN, had issued a previous communiqué in which they defended "the legitimacy of all means" to prevent Bashaga's government from entering the capital, something it has been trying to do since April in order to make its power effective.

Bashaga was appointed last February by the Tobruk-based parliament, controlled by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, as a parallel prime minister to Dbeiba when the latter's mandate was deemed to have expired.

However, Dbeiba refused to relinquish power until elections are held, but they have not been called due to the ongoing fighting.

This new political division, with two administrations in Libya, is causing intermittent armed clashes between rival groups in the capital, which this Saturday is experiencing one of the most violent days in recent months.