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Official: Airstrike Hits Tripoli Migrant Detention Center, Kills 40

Reuters

   TRIPOLI - An airstrike late on Tuesday hit a detention center for
   mainly African migrants in the Tajoura suburb of the Libyan capital of
   Tripoli, killing at least 40 people and wounding 80, a health official
   said.

   Pictures published by Libyan officials showed African migrants
   undergoing surgery in a hospital after the strike.

   Libya is a main departure point for migrants from Africa and Arab
   countries trying to reach Italy by boat, but many get picked up by the
   Libyan coast guard supported by the European Union. Thousands are held
   in government-run detention centers in what human rights groups say are
   often inhuman conditions.

   Tajoura, east of Tripoli's center, is home to several military camps of
   forces allied to Libya's internationally recognised government, which
   for three months has been battling eastern forces trying to take
   Tripoli.

   On Monday, the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) said it would
   start heavy airstrikes on targets in Tripoli after "traditional means"
   of war had been exhausted.

   The LNA denied it had hit the detention center, saying militias allied
   to Tripoli had shelled it after a precision airstrike by the LNA on a
   camp.

   The LNA has failed to take Tripoli in three months of fighting and last
   week lost its main forward base in Gharyan, which was taken back by
   Tripoli forces.