Scores killed and injured in Kufra clashes

Nine people were killed and 34  injured in renewed tribal clashes in Libya's southern city, Kufra, on Thursday,  local journalist Abdelhamid al-Aburish informed Arabstoday. Tribal clashes resumed last Tuesday between the Arab Ziwei tribe and the African Toubou tribe. However, Aburish said that Thursday's clashes were the fiercest. "The situation on Thursday has been much worse than in previous days, and the clashes are still ongoing" said Aburish. He added that militants belonging to the Toubou tribe have started firing at Arab residents, using tanks and firing mortars. "The heavy firing is preventing medical services from evacuating the dead and wounded, and some people died while waiting for ambulances to transfer them to hospitals," he added. Aburish affirmed that 35 military vehicles sent by the rebels battalions have arrived in the city to impose security, but they have not managed to stop the deadly clashes. The city's hospital suffers from a lack of medical equipment, and constant power and water cuts. Dr Mohammed Khaled, a physician working at Kufra City Hospital described the situation as "very bad." "We don't have the required equipment to treat the wounded. Even the blood transfusion bags are finished.  The ambulances have tried many times to reach the locations where the clashes are taking place but the serious fighting is preventing them. There are two dead bodies and several wounded  whom we failed to collect, while those who were critically injured were sent to Benghazi as we can't grant them proper treatment here," Boushnaf al-Abid, a member of the city's local council, told Arabstoday that neither the National Transitional Council nor the interim government have done anything to stop the deadly clashes in the city or the shortage in medical equipment and the power and water cuts. "If the state won't interfere to stop this, we (the local residents) will do it by ourselves and 'crush' whoever threatens our security," said Abid.