At least 42 people died in a drone strike in south-western Libya carried out by the forces of rebel Gen Khalifa Haftar.
The strike hit a town hall meeting in the town of Murzuq, according to reports. Gen Haftar’s forces which are based in eastern Libya said they targeted the town late on Sunday, but denied targeting civilians. The country has been torn by conflict since the fall of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
The air strike left “42 dead and more than 60 injured, 30 of them critically” at the town hall in Qalaa neighbourhood, where more than 200 people were at a meeting “to settle social differences”, council official Ibrahim Omar told AFP news agency.
Local media earlier reported that the strike had hit a wedding party. The UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) condemned the attack on social media and accused Gen Haftar’s forces of carrying it out.
It also urged the UN to “carry out an investigation into the crimes committed by Haftar’s militias in Murzuq”. Pro-Haftar media outlets said the attack had targeted Chadian mercenaries, which is how they refer to the Tebu ethnic group which opposes Gen Haftar.
In another development, At least 20 people have died and another 47 injured after a car crash involving several vehicles in Cairo caused an explosion.
Four cars collided on Sunday night, causing the blast outside the country’s National Cancer Institute, the health ministry said.
It happened when a car driving against traffic collided with another three vehicles, Egypt’s interior ministry said in a separate statement.
An investigation has been launched into the incident. Around 54 patients were evacuated from the cancer hospital after the crash, with Cairo University saying the fire had damaged the main gate of the facility. Wards and rooms were also affected.