Libya's Tripoli govt condemns attack on Turkish cargo ship

Libya's Tripoli-based government has condemned an attack on a Turkish cargo ship off the coast of the Libyan port city of Tobruk.

In a Monday statement, the Foreign Ministry affiliated with the Tripoli government denounced the attack as "atrocious".

"Such acts aim to harm security and instability and endanger navigation in the Mediterranean Sea," the ministry said, going on to call on the United Nations and international organizations "to launch international investigation into the incident to bring perpetrators to justice."

Earlier Monday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the Tuna-1 ship flagged with Cook Island had been attacked in international waters about 13 miles [21 kilometers] off the coast of Tobruk while carrying a drywall cargo from Spain.

According to the ministry, the ship came under two separate airstrikes when it tried to leave the region, leaving a crew member dead.

The ministry said Turkey had protested the attack with Libyan authorities and vowed to take legal actions against those responsible.

Turkey also said that it reserves the right to demand compensation, the statement added.

For his part, Air Force commander affiliated with the Tobruk-based parliament Saqr al-Garrouchi aid that the Turkish ship had been bombed for refusing to heed orders to stop.

"The ship violated Libyan territorial water despite warnings from the Libyan army," al-Garrouchi told Anadolu Agency.

"We first fired warning shots and when the ship did not heed we used live ammunition," he added.

Libya has remained in a state of turmoil since a bloody uprising ended the decades-long rule of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in late 2011.

Since then, the country's stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, each with its own institutions and military capacities.

Vying for legislative authority are the Tobruk-based House of Representatives and an Islamist-led General National Congress that convenes in Tripoli.

The two assemblies support two rival governments respectively headquartered in the two cities.