Three civilians were killed on Wednesday in an air raid on a town south of Libya‘s capital Tripoli, a spokesman for the United Nations-recognised government said.

The deadly violence comes just a day before the Turkish Parliament votes on Thursday to deploy troops to Tripoli following the request of the UN-backed government.

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“Three were killed and three wounded in an air raid on al-Sawani,” Amin al-Hachemi, spokesman for the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), told AFP news agency.

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Al-Sawani lies about 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of the capital and is under GNA control.

Tripoli’s southern suburbs have been hit by deadly fighting since renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive against the capital in early April.

Several shops were badly damaged in the air raid, Hachemi said.

On their Facebook page, forces loyal to the GNA published pictures of badly damaged buildings and vehicles, and accused pro-Haftar forces of carrying out the raid.

GNA forces said in a statement that they had captured 25 pro-Haftar fighters on Wednesday.

Libya has been mired in conflict since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed the former Prime Minister of Libya Muammar Gaddafi with rival administrations in the east and west vying for power.

According to UN figures published last month, clashes around Tripoli since April 4 have killed more than 280 civilians and 2,000 fighters, while more than 140,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.

Earlier, the UN envoy to Libya accused Security Council members of violating an arms embargo.

Ghassan Salame also said that there are concerns about foreign fighters being flown into Libya, adding that the deal signed between Turkey and the Tripoli government represents an “escalation” of the conflict in the North African country.

Meanwhile, Turkish Vice President Foad Oktay said Turkish troops may not be deployed if Haftar and his troops, who have been trying to seize the capital since April, will halt their offensive.

Emadeddin Badi an analyst at Middle East Institute, told Al Jazeera that the inaction of countries, like the US and France have allowed countries like Russia and Turkey to come to fill the vacuum, as the violence continues.

SOURCE: www.aljazeera.com

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