Moscow: As many as 220 people were killed and 1,066 more were injured since the beginning of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) offensive on Tripoli, which is controlled by the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

On Thursday, the WHO reported about 213 victims of the armed confrontation.

“#Tripoli toll is now 220 dead and 1066 wounded. Among the killed civilians in #Libya are health workers, women, and children. #NotATarget,” the WHO wrote on Twitter.

The clashes in Libya erupted on April 4, when Haftar ordered his troops to advance on the Libyan capital to free it from what he called terrorists. As a result, LNA gained control over the cities of Surman and Garyan located near Tripoli. On April 7, the GNA announced a counteroffensive, dubbed Volcano of Rage, to confront the LNA.

Libya has been suffering from unrest since 2011, when its long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed. Since then the country has been split between two rival governments, with an elected parliament, supported by Haftar’s army, governing the country’s east and the UN- and EU-backed GNA ruling the west from Tripoli. (SPUTNIK)