TRIPOLI, AT least 90 people have been killed during intensifying clashes in southern Libya in recent days.

Thousands of others have been displaced following the air and drone strikes in the town of Murzuq.

There are severe indiscriminate rocket attacks and shelling as well as direct fighting on the ground.

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) disclosed that among the dead are two children.

Four of them were injured in a strike that hit a house, hosting internally displaced people on August 8, Laerke added.

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), 9 450 people have been displaced by the violence in and around Murzuq since the beginning of August.

At least 3 000 of them have been uprooted from the desert city since ethnic violence intensified last week, IOM stated.

IOM disclosed most families previously displaced within neighbourhoods of Murzuq City had also left the town to nearby communities.

Reported displacements include around 300 migrants from Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

Libya is beset by instability following the ouster and murder of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Rival governments and militias are competing for control.

The United Nations’ $202 million (R3 billion) humanitarian response plan for Libya is currently only 30 percent funded.

Source: CAJ News Agency