Fighting In Southern Tripoli Kills 187, More Than 1,000 Wounded: Spokesperson

Recent fighting in southern Tripoli in Libya has killed 187 people and wounded 1,157, a spokesman for the ministry of health said on Saturday.

The government has also transferred a number of wounded to Tunisia, Turkey, Italy and Ukraine for medical treatment, said Tarek al-Hamshiri, the head of the government forces' Field Medical Centre.

The offensive launched by eastern Libya-based military commander Khalifa Haftar to take control of Tripoli is now in its fifth week. After initial gains, Haftar's forces have encountered stiff resistance on the southern outskirts and his troops have been pushed back in some areas.

The UN-backed government of national accord (GNA) in Tripoli issued a statement earlier on Saturday recognising 710 fighters killed in Libya's civil war in 2014 as "martyrs", in a move a Tripoli government source said was aimed at winning the backing of forces in nearby Zintan in the fight against Haftar.

"The GNA took this step in a bid to get support from the mountain town of Zintan to strengthen its forces in confronting the eastern forces deployed by military commander Khalifa Haftar," the government source said.

On April 18, Russia and the United States opposed a British bid backed by France and Germany at the UN Security Council to demand a ceasefire in the North African country.

The White House revealed the next day that Donald Trump had reached out personally to Haftar in a phone call, during which the US president "recognised Field Marshal Haftar's significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya's oil resources".

The country has been mired in chaos since the NATO-backed uprising that deposed and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.