Fighting in Tripoli, Libya: More than 50 dead and nearly 150 wounded

Heavy fighting between two influential armed groups on the outskirts of the Libyan capital from Monday to Tuesday August 15 evening left at least 50 people dead and more than 140 wounded, medical sources said on Wednesday August 16.
In a “provisional toll” published on Facebook, the Center for Emergency Medicine, which manages rescue operations in the west of the country, reported 55 dead and 146 wounded in clashes between the “Brigade 444” and the “Force al-Raada”, two major armed groups in western Libya. According to the same source, 234 families were rescued from the fighting south of the capital, along with dozens of stranded foreign doctors and nurses.
Three field hospitals and some 60 ambulances were mobilized to treat the wounded and evacuate civilians to safer areas. Flights had to be suspended at Mitiga airport, the only civilian airport in the capital, and aircraft temporarily evacuated from the tarmac.
The fighting started after the arrest on Monday of Colonel Mahmoud Hamza, commander of Brigade 444, by the al-Radaa Force. No information was given on the reasons for his arrest.
Fighting with heavy weapons and automatic weapons broke out on Monday night and continued until Tuesday evening between Brigade 444 and Force al-Radaa, in several sectors of the south-eastern suburbs of the Libyan capital, with indiscriminate fire hitting inhabited areas.