WHO says over 200 killed in fighting over Libyan capital

AP  |  Benghazi 

The fighting between Libya's rival factions for control of the country's capital this month killed 205 people so far, the said, announcing it would deploy medical specialists, including surgeons, to treat the wounded.

The clashes, which erupted earlier in April, have threatened to ignite a civil war on the scale of the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator

The fighting has also forced the U.N. to indefinitely postpone reconciliation talks planned for mid-April that meant to try and find a way to pull out of the chaos that followed Gadhafi's ouster.

WHO said Wednesday it would send medical staff to treat the wounded, whose number has reached 913. It wasn't clear how many among the dead are civilians.

Fighting over is pitting the self-styled Libyan National Army, which is led by and aligned with a rival government based in the country's east, against militias affiliated with Tripoli's U.N.-supported government.

The U.N. says that more than 25,000 people have been displaced in the clashes.

Meanwhile, Hifter's forces said they recaptured Thursday the in southern Libya, which had been taken earlier by an armed group affiliated with the government.

The armed group, known as the South Protection Forces, initially said it seized 15 armored vehicles and ammunition when it took the base but Mohammed al-Fares, a for Hifter's fighters, later said they were back in control.

The base is located near the southern city of and has strategic significance for control of Libya's south, which Hifter's forces seized earlier this year before moving westward on to

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First Published: Thu, April 18 2019. 19:45 IST