Airwars assessment
Six civilians, including a child, were killed and 17 civilians were injured in alleged Libyan National Army (LNA) artillery strikes on Al Fornaj neighbourhood in Tripoli on May 16th, 2020. According to local sources, the strikes targeted housing units for displaced people at a university campus.
The Libya Observer reported that “five people were killed and six others were wounded in a rocket attack launched by the militia groups of Haftar on a residential compound for IDPs [Internally Displaced People] in Fornaj district of Tripoli on Saturday [May 16th], medical sources confirm.”
The Field Medicine and Support Center reported the names of five killed civilians and added there had been a sixth killed victim who remained unidentified. One of the victims was 5-year-old Bangladeshi boy Wahi Zuhair Matin. Burkan Al Ghadab Operation added that the the child’s “ambition was to buy a bike and ‘play like the kids’.” His family members Zuhair Matin (52) and Maria Zuhair Matin (5) were injured in the strikes.
The FMSC identified 17 civilians who were injured to varying degrees, including a woman. A spokesman for the FMSC told Libya Al Ahrar that a paramedic and an ambulance driver had been injured while helping the displaced people evacuate from the university campus building.
Burkan Al Ghadab Operation reported that “the martyr of duty Muhammad Ayyad Diyaf is one of the seven victims as a result of the bombing of the Haftar militia yesterday to accommodate the displaced persons in the university campus.” It is unclear what duties Diyaf was performing when he was killed.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (3)
- Wahi Zuhair Matin 5 years old male from Bangladesh killed
- Zuhair Metin 52 years old male from Bangladesh injured
- Maria Zuhair Matin 5 years old female from Bangladesh injured
- Abu Al Qasim Muhammad Al Rayani 60 years old male killed
- Ahmed Muhammad Gharib 26 years old male killed
- Muhammad Ayyad Daiyaf 29 years old killed
- Fawzi Al Mawloud Abu Saada 32 years old killed
- Mu'tasim Abdul Majeed Al Zain 22 years old male injured
- Khaled Mansour Shieh 48 years old male injured
- Muhammad Ahmad Ali 20 years old male injured
- Hassan Sharif 30 years old male injured
- Hasna Muhammad Dangir 40 years old female injured
- Asaad Saeed Al Rabati Age unknown male injured
- Haytham Abdul Rahman Faraj Age unknown male injured
- Mohammed Ayyad Al Mazoughi Age unknown male injured
- Muhammad Abdul-Halim Al Muqrin Age unknown male injured
- Mansour Hussain Moftah Age unknown male injured
- Maad Jalal Age unknown male injured
- Mohamed Rabie Age unknown male injured
- Mohamed Al Toumi Age unknown male injured
- Mohamed Al Sidi Age unknown male injured
- Mohammed Al Rabeh Age unknown male injured
Summary
Sources (15) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (21) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the university dormitory, which was being used as an IDP camp, being struck for which the generic coordinates are: 32.848091, 13.241433. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.