LIBYA: Men wounded in ethnic fighting south of Tripoli, are treated in hospital, as bodies are laid out in the medical centre's morgue

Record ID: 861273

  • Title: LIBYA: Men wounded in ethnic fighting south of Tripoli, are treated in hospital, as bodies are laid out in the medical centre's morgue
  • Date: 18th June 2012
  • Summary: DEAD BODIES ON THE GROUND IN THE HOSPITAL VARIOUS OF DEAD BODIES
  • Embargoed: 3rd July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • City:
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA6LP80J292WXDVSLG9S9XCS77P
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Rival Libyan militias clashed for a seventh day on Sunday (June 17) in fighting that has killed dozens of people and underscores the divisions in the North African country's society months after an uprising ended Muammar Gaddafi's rule.
    However compared to previous days, the fighting was mainly sporadic as army troops arrived in the area, a mountainous region about 160 kms south of the capital Tripoli, to impose a ceasefire, a military official said.
    The clashes have pitted fighters from the town of Zintan, who played a big role in ousting Gaddafi in last year's war, against members of the El-Mashashia tribe, who chose not to join the rebellion, security officials said.
    Resentment between the two groups spilled over into fighting in December, when at least four people were killed, and erupted again this week when a Zintan fighter was shot dead.
    Zintan's militias blamed the El-Mashashia tribe and retaliated, leading to the current flare-up, which started on Monday, several members of the tribe said.
    At the hospital in the town of Gharyan, which is the main one close to the fighting, a doctor said 62 people had been killed since Monday and 137 injured. All were from the Mashashia side, he said.
    Some 34 bodies were brought into the hospital on Sunday, a nurse said but it was not clear when the men had been killed. She said the deaths were caused by gunshot wounds and most of the boedies were of young men.
    Seven people on the Zintani side were killed in the last week and 12 injured, a resident said.
    Gaddafi's repressive rule kept in check the deep-running animosities in Libyan society, which often pit villages, cities or tribes against their neighbours. When he was forced from power last year, old feuds re-surfaced.
    The flare-ups of violence, mostly in the southern Sahara and mountainous west, show how little authority the interim government has over a myriad armed groups.
    Libya's NTC and its Western backers hope the violence will not jeopardise a July 7 election for a national assembly.
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