GENEVA, Aug. 20 : At least 90 civilians have been killed and more than 200 injured since hostilities escalated early this month in and around the small oasis town of Murzuq in southwestern Libya, the United Nations said Tuesday.
Jens Laerke, Geneva spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that the casualties include some 45 people killed in an airstrike that hit the area on Aug. 4 and the death or injury of six children on Aug. 8.
That was after a mortar landed on a house hosting internally displaced persons in the Bendalwah neighborhood.
“Casualties on all sides of the fighting have continued as a result of airstrikes by planes and drones, indiscriminate rocket attacks and shelling, and direct fighting on the ground,” said Laerke.
Citing the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Laerke said that the violence had displaced some 9,450 people within the Murzuq municipality since the beginning of August.
“Some families are reluctant to leave the affected areas because they are afraid of reprisals. If a family leaves a neighborhood controlled by one side of the conflict, the other side may think they are affiliated with their enemy,” said the OCHA spokesperson.
Humanitarian needs are growing fast, according to local counterparts, said Laerke, with priority on medical supplies and health assistance, food, water and sanitation support, but also tents, blankets, and hygiene kits.
