On Saturday, a group of armed militias, aligned with the Government of National Accord (GNA), committed a number of crimes and abuses against residents of al-Asaabaa city, killing one person and another one.
A number of eyewitnesses told ‘Al-Sa’a 24’ newspaper that the GNA-affiliated armed militias killed a citizen named “Nasser Ghaith” and wounded another one during the attacks carried out by those militias against the residents of al-Asaabaa city.
They confirmed that the armed militias, who were accompanied by Syrian mercenaries, broke into many homes in the city and kidnapped a number of Libyan young men.
On June, residents of Tarhuna city complained of looting and violations committed by forces loyal to the GNA after they recaptured the city.
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya expressed its concern over the violations. “Reports of the discovery of a number of corpses at the hospital in Tarhuna are deeply disturbing. The Mission has called upon GNA authorities to conduct a prompt and impartial investigation.”
Reported acts of extrajudicial killings, looting and vandalism, especially in Tarhuna, were earlier condemned by the United Nations, with the UN mission in Libya (UNSMIL) urging the GNA to carry out a “prompt and impartial investigation” into the deaths.
However, the GNA has so far failed to launch a serious investigation into reports of violence, laying the blame on “foreign forces” in an attempt to divert attention from what was committed under its watch, with Turkish support.
Turkey has dramatically increased its involvement in the conflict this year, sending intelligence personnel, delivering drones and dispatching hundreds of mercenaries from Syria and other armed militias to Libya.