Dozens of Libyans protested on Tuesday against a US air strike in the country’s southwestern desert, saying civilians had been targeted.

Iran Press/Africa: The US Africa Command (Africom) claimed it had killed 11 al Qaeda militants near the town of al Uwaynat in its third strike since March on the militant group’s North African branch.

The strike close to the Algerian border, destroyed three vehicles, Africom had said in its statement last week, adding that at the time, they had assessed “no civilians were injured or killed”, Reuters reported.

Members of the ethnic Tuareg tribe living in the area staged a protest on Tuesday, calling on the Tripoli-based government to launch an investigation into the strike.

The protesters, among them women and children, held up pamphlets saying “Africom attacked civilians”, and “Africom is killing our sons”, witnesses and participants told Reuters.

Libya has been in a state of crisis since the overthrowing of its former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.101/202

 

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