CAIRO (AP) — Libya’s coast guard says it has intercepted around three dozen Europe-bound migrants off its Mediterranean coast and taken them to a detention center that was bombed earlier this month.
Spokesman Ayoub Gassim says a rubber boat carrying 38 migrants, mostly Egyptians, was stopped on Tuesday off the coast some 65 kilometers, or 40 miles, east of the capital, Tripoli. He says the migrants were transferred to the Tajoura detention center.
An airstrike hit the center on July 3, killing more than 50 people and raising new concerns over the treatment of migrants in Libya, where the European Union has partnered with local forces to stem Mediterranean crossings.
Thousands of migrants are being held in poorly equipped detention centers near the front lines of the latest fighting between rival Libyan factions.
