Damaged vehicles are seen after clashes in central Tripoli, Libya, on Aug. 27, 2022.Photo:Xinhua

 
Twelves people were killed and 87 others injured in the ongoing clashes in the Libyan capital Tripoli, the country's Health Ministry said on Saturday.

It added that a number of hospitals and medical centers in the city have been damaged by the clashes, confirming that medical teams couldn't access certain areas in Tripoli to help civilians who made distress calls due to the clashes.

Violent clashes erupted late on Friday in different areas of central Tripoli between armed groups affiliated with two rival governments.

The Tripoli-based Government of National Unity condemned Saturday the clashes and accused the Prime Minister-designate Fathi Bashagha of "treachery and betrayal."

On the same day, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya expressed concern over the ongoing clashes, "including indiscriminate medium and heavy shelling in civilian-populated neighborhoods in Tripoli."

The UN mission called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and reminded all parties of their "obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law to protect civilians and civilian objects."

In February, the Libyan House of Representatives, or parliament, appointed a new government headed by Bashagha.

However, Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdul-Hamed Dbeibah refused to hand over power, saying his government would continue working and only hand over office to an elected government.

Libya has been suffering political instability and chaos ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011.

A damaged vehicle is seen after clashes in central Tripoli, Libya, on Aug. 27, 2022.Photo:Xinhua

 

A vehicle is on fire after clashes in central Tripoli, Libya, on Aug. 27, 2022.Photo:Xinhua