As renewed fighting erupted in western Libya on Sunday amid the country’s fragile situation, five people were killed, including a 10-year-old child, and many others were injured.
The fighting broke out Sunday between rival militias in the western town of Zawiya, where armed groups – like in many other towns and cities in oil-rich Libya – are competing for influence.
Along with the child and the other four who were killed, at least eight other civilians were wounded in the clashes that continued overnight, the Health Ministry’s emergency services said.
The fighting trapped dozens of families living in the area for hours, said Malek Merset, a spokesperson for the emergency services. Local media reported that one militia fired at a member of its rivals, wounding a militiaman who was taken to hospital.
The violence was the latest between militias in western Libya. In August, clashes in the capital of Tripoli killed more than 30 people, one of the deadliest bouts of fighting in Libya in many months.
Libya’s current political stalemate grew out of the failure to hold elections in December and Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s refusal to step down. In response, the country’s east-based parliament appointed a rival prime minister, Fathi Bashagha, who has for months sought to install his government in Tripoli.
The presidential vote was originally planned for Dec. 24 but was postponed over disputes between rival factions on laws governing the elections and controversial presidential hopefuls. That was a major blow to international efforts to end a decade of chaos.
The escalation threatens to shatter the relative calm Libya has enjoyed for most of the past two years. The oil-rich nation plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
