A field hospital here was shelled on Saturday, in which five medical workers were killed and eight others injured, as the armed conflict between the UN-backed government forces and the east-based army continues.
“The Ministry of Health condemns in the strongest terms the shelling of a field hospital by a military aircraft in Tripoli airport road (in southern Tripoli), which killed five medical personnel and injured eight others,” the ministry said later Saturday in a statement.
“The Ministry of Health considers that such horrific and repeated attacks and violations since the beginning of the war against the capital of Tripoli violate all local and international humanitarian laws and conventions that criminalize targeting of medical personnel,” the ministry said.
The east-based army, led by General Khalifa Haftar, has been leading a military campaign since early April in attempt to take over Tripoli from the government.
The fighting so far has killed more than 1,000 people, injured more than 5,700 others, and forced more than 120,000 people to flee their homes, according to the World Health Organization. Libya has been struggling to undergo a transitional period amid insecurity and chaos since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
