An unknown number of Somali inmates locked up at a Prison in the Libyan capital Tripoli are unaccounted for following fierce militia fighting Monday morning.
“There was a war in Tripoli this morning and all prisons are opened, the Somali embassy is working to bring the Somali prisoners together and help them” Dr Ali Said Faqi Somalia’s Ambassador to the European Union said in a statement via his official Facebook account
Dr Faqi who has been actively involved in the repartriation of Somalia nationals stuck in troubled Libya said that prisoners in Tariqu Mataar and Salahu Diini prisons are reported to have escaped.
“Some have reached the embassy” Dr Faqi affirmed.
Libya’s Health Ministry said Monday in a statement that the fighting also wounded at least 27 people.
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya has voiced concerns over “the use of indiscriminate fire and heavy weapons in densely populated residential areas.”
It called on all sides to immediately cease hostilities.
Libya was plunged into chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed ruler Moammar Gadhafi. Today it is split between rival parliaments and governments in the east and west, each backed by a set of militias.