UN says Libyan authorities shot dead two Sudanese migrants

Libyan authorities shot de two Sudanese migrants in a western coastal town who tried to escape after y were intercepted by coast guard in Mediterranean Sea and returned to shore, United Nations migration ncy said Tuesday.

two were among over 70 Europe-bound migrants, mostly from Sudan, who were returned late Monday to town of Khoms, said Safa Mselhi, a spokesperson for International Organization for Migration. Khoms is about 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Tripoli.

shooting underscores perils that migrants face in Libya, which has emerged as a major transit point for African and Arab migrants fleeing war and poverty to Europe amid years-long chaos following 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Ghafi.

IOM said local authorities started shooting when migrants attempted to escape from disembarkation point.

re was immediate comment from U.N.-supported government in capital, Tripoli. Several calls to a spokesman for coast guard went unanswered.

Three or migrants were wounded and were taken to local hospitals while survivors were moved to detention, IOM said.

“This is t first time people are subjected to this senseless violence and confirms yet again that one should be returned to Libya,” Mselhi said.

IOM Libya Chief of Mission Federico Soda said shooting came “amid a lack of action to change a system that often fails to provide any degree of protection” in conflict-sicken Libya.

Last week, an Eritrean asylum-seeker died after arriving at U.N. refugee center in Tripoli from a trafficking center in Bani Walid in rthwest, UNHCR, U.N. human rights ncy, said.

young Eritrean arrived at center with ar Eritrean earlier this month. y appeared to be severely malurished, and one died before it was possible to transport him to a hospital, ncy said.

Since June, more than 100 people have arrived in Tripoli from trafficking centers in Bani Walid. y are often in very poor physical condition and in dire need of assistance, ncy said.

In May, family of a slain Libyan human trafficker attacked a group of migrants in a smuggling warehouse in desert town of Mizdah, killing at least 26 Bangleshi and four African migrants.

Most migrants in Libya attempt to make perilous journey to European shores in ill-equipped and unsafe rubber boats. IOM said earlier this year its estimated death toll among migrants who tried to cross Mediterranean passed “grim milestone” of 20,000 since 2014.

In recent years, European Union has partnered with coast guard and or Libyan forces to stop flow of migrants.

Rights groups say those efforts have left migrants at mercy of brutal armed groups or confined in squalid and overcrowded detention centers that lack equate food and water.

EU agreed earlier this year to end an anti-migrant smuggler operation that ilved only surveillance aircraft and inste deploy military ships to concentrate on upholding a widely flouted U.N. arms embargo that’s considered key to winding down Libya’s relentless war.