CAIRO: Eleven Sudanese migrants and a Libyan driver were killed Friday in a car crash in the desert in Libya, authorities said, the latest tragedy involving Sudanese fleeing a civil war in their home country.
The crash between the migrants’ vehicle and a truck happened early Friday in the desert, 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of the Libyan town of Kufra, the town’s Ambulance and Emergency Service said in a statement.
The dead included three women and two children, the service’s director Ibrahim Abu Al-Hassan told The Associated Press.
A 65-year-old man and his 10-year-old son were also wounded in the crash, he added.
It was the latest deadly incident involving Sudanese migrants in the Libyan desert.
Earlier this month, seven Sudanese were found dead after their vehicle broke down in the desert. The vehicle broke down in a path used by traffickers between Chad and Libya, leaving 34 migrants on board stranded for several days in the desert.
Libya was plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
It has become a main transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East to seek better lives in Europe. The country shares borders with six nations and has a long coastline along the Mediterranean.
Human traffickers have benefited from more than a decade of instability, smuggling migrants across Libya’s borders with six nations, including Chad, Niger, Sudan Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia.
Thousands of Sudanese have fled to Libya since April 2023 after simmering tensions between the Sudanese military and a powerful paramilitary group exploded into street fighting across the country.
The conflict in Sudan has turned into a civil war that killed thousands people, displaced over 14 million, and pushed parts of the county into famine.
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11 Sudanese migrants killed in a car crash in the Libya desert, authorities say
11 Sudanese migrants killed in a car crash in the Libya desert, authorities say
- Authorities say 11 Sudanese migrants and a Libyan driver were killed in a car crash in the desert in Libya
- The dead included three women and two children. A 65-year-old man and his 10-year-old son were also wounded in the crash
Israel army says striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military announced a series of strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Friday, including weapons depots and a training complex.
“A number of weapons storage facilities and terrorist infrastructure sites were struck, which were used by Hezbollah to advance terror attacks against the state of Israel,” a military statement said.
Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, Israel has continued to strike in Lebanon and has maintained troops in five areas it deems strategic.
More than 340 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry reports.
The strikes on Friday come a day after similar Israeli attacks near the Syrian border and in southern Lebanon left three people dead.
The Israeli military had reported on Thursday it had killed a member of arch-foe Iran’s elite Quds Force in a strike in Lebanon.
On Friday, the military said it had struck several military structures of Hezbollah, warning it would “remove any threat posed to the state of Israel.”
Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah, starting in the south of the country near the frontier.
Lebanon’s army plans to complete the disarmament south of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border with Israel — by year’s end.
Israel has questioned the Lebanese military’s effectiveness and has accused Hezbollah of rearming, while the group itself has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.
“A number of weapons storage facilities and terrorist infrastructure sites were struck, which were used by Hezbollah to advance terror attacks against the state of Israel,” a military statement said.
Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, Israel has continued to strike in Lebanon and has maintained troops in five areas it deems strategic.
More than 340 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry reports.
The strikes on Friday come a day after similar Israeli attacks near the Syrian border and in southern Lebanon left three people dead.
The Israeli military had reported on Thursday it had killed a member of arch-foe Iran’s elite Quds Force in a strike in Lebanon.
On Friday, the military said it had struck several military structures of Hezbollah, warning it would “remove any threat posed to the state of Israel.”
Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah, starting in the south of the country near the frontier.
Lebanon’s army plans to complete the disarmament south of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border with Israel — by year’s end.
Israel has questioned the Lebanese military’s effectiveness and has accused Hezbollah of rearming, while the group itself has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.
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