Bystander killed as armed groups clash in Libya seaside town

TRIPOLI (AFP): Armed groups clashed in a seaside town outside the Libyan capital late Tuesday, killing a woman bystander and sowing panic among beachgoers, emergency services and media reports said.

The fighting erupted in Tajura, a town 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Tripoli which is popular with families seeking escape from the heat of the capital.

“The woman died after being hit in the head” by a stray bullet, emergency services spokesman Oussama Ali told Al-Ahrar television.

Libyan media reported that the clashes broke out after fighters of one armed group detained a member of a rival group.

A myriad of armed groups have vied for control of the North African country ever since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.

Although relative calm has returned in the past few years, clashes periodically occur between rival groups, most of which are allied with either the UN-recognized government in Tripoli or the rival administration based in the east.

Clashes broke out in Zawiya, west of the capital, in May and in Tripoli itself in April.

In August last year, 55 people were killed in the fiercest clashes to hit the capital in a year.