CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st May, 2019) As many as 345 people were killed and 1,652 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 Tuesday.
"Tripoli toll as of 28 April is 345 dead & 1652 wounded. WHO surgical teams deployed to the area's hospitals have performed more than 140 major surgeries," the WHO said 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.
