Interior Ministry urges residents to stay home and avoid movement, warning of further instability.

The United Nations has called for urgent de-escalation in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, as rival gunmen exchanged fire in the city’s southern districts after the killing of a powerful militia leader, prompting authorities to impose an emergency lockdown warning.

Residents reported hearing heavy gunfire and explosions across multiple neighbourhoods from about 9pm local time (19:00 GMT), according to journalists on the ground.

Reporting from Libya’s Misrata, Al Jazeera’s Malik Traina said security sources had confirmed the killing of Abdel Ghani al-Kikli, widely known as “Gheniwa”, who is the head of the powerful Stability Support Authority militia.

Gunfire and clashes then consumed several parts of Tripoli.

Al-Kikli was one of the capital’s most influential militia leaders and had recently been involved in disputes with rival armed groups, including factions linked to Misrata.

Traina said that at least six people have been injured, although it remains unclear whether they are security force members or civilians.

“People are angry that every time these armed groups clash, civilians are caught in the crossfire,” he continued, adding that residents are demanding “accountability”.

“When these groups fight and people are killed, no one is held responsible. Locals want justice, and expect the authorities to hold those behind the violence accountable,” he said.

In a statement early on Tuesday, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said it was “alarmed by the unfolding security situation in Tripoli, with intense fighting with heavy weaponry in densely populated civilian areas”.

UNSMIL added that it “calls on all parties to immediately cease fighting and restore calm, and reminds all parties of their obligations to protect civilians at all times”.

UNSMIL is alarmed by the unfolding security situation in Tripoli, with intense fighting with heavy weaponry in densely populated civilian areas. 
The Mission calls on all parties to immediately cease fighting and restore calm, and reminds all parties of their obligations to… pic.twitter.com/SZ8oKgZ1p8

— UNSMIL (@UNSMILibya) May 12, 2025

UNSMIL voiced support for local mediation efforts, particularly those led by elders and community leaders, emphasising the need to protect civilians amid mounting tensions.

Schools shut, residents told to stay indoors

The Ministry of Internal Affairs urged residents to stay home and avoid movement, warning of further instability. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education suspended classes across Tripoli on Tuesday, citing the deteriorating security situation.

Libyan social media platforms have been flooded with videos and images showing gunfire, plumes of black smoke rising, armed men in the streets and convoys entering the city.

Footage verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency captured the sound of medium-calibre gunfire in several neighbourhoods, including areas where the Stability Support Authority militia is known to operate.

Several districts have seen what local sources describe as “suspicious military manoeuvres”, with convoys arriving from Az-Zawiyah, Zintan, and Misrata – seen by many as preparations for a possible showdown in the capital.

The country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The oil-rich nation has been governed for most of the past decade by rival governments in eastern and western Libya, each backed by an array of fighter groups and foreign governments.

The latest attacks come as the African Union rejects any ‘interference’ in the civil war, which has killed more than 20,000 people.

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have said the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed seven people in artillery shelling on el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state in western Sudan.

A statement from the military-aligned government said on Monday that the RSF shelling that began late on Sunday targeted residential neighbourhoods, killing seven people, including women and children, and wounding at least 15, who were taken to hospitals.

On Sunday, the army also said the RSF shelling in the city killed nine people.

El-Fasher has witnessed intense fighting between SAF and RSF since May 2024, despite international warnings about the risks of violence in a city that serves as a key humanitarian hub for the five Darfur states.

For more than a year, the RSF has sought to wrest control of it, located more than 800km (500 miles) southwest of the capital, Khartoum, from the Sudanese army, launching regular attacks on the city and two major famine-hit camps for displaced people on its outskirts.

The RSF and the SAF have been locked in a brutal power struggle since April 2023, resulting in thousands of deaths and pushing Sudan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to the United Nations.

More than 20,000 people have been killed and 15 million displaced in the brutal civil war now in its third year, according to UN and local figures. However, some United States-based researchers estimate the actual death toll to be as high as 130,000.

Won’t accept ‘any interference’

Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) said on Monday it would not accept “any interference” in Sudan after the RSF was accused of receiving weapons from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Last week, the Sudanese government severed diplomatic relations with the UAE, accusing it of supplying weapons to the RSF.

Amnesty International has also accused the UAE of supplying weapons to the RSF, in violation of a UN arms embargo.

The UAE has rejected the claims as “baseless”.

“The Commission’s position is that member states are sovereign states, and the AU Commission will not accept any interference in the internal affairs of Sudan,” said AU Chairperson Mahamoud Ali Youssouf.

“We will not support any intervention, any interference in the crisis in Sudan,” he said.

However, Youssouf declined to comment on the UAE’s possible role in the conflict. “It is not the role of the AU. Sudan has accused the Emirates; it is up to Sudan to provide this evidence,” he said.

The foreign minister of Djibouti was elected head of the pan-African organisation in February, inheriting multiple conflicts and a record of ineffectual statements.

Among the top of his priorities coming into the post was the Sudan civil war, which has effectively cleaved the country in two.

Both sides have been accused of committing war crimes.

In recent days, drone attacks attributed by the army to the RSF have increased, marking a turning point in the two-year conflict.

Drone attacks have also notably targeted strategic sites in Port Sudan, the temporary seat of government and the logistical humanitarian epicentre.

In February, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged a halt to the “flow of arms” into Sudan.

Detainees were regularly executed and unarmed people killed in their sleep during night raids, according to ex-soldiers.

Former members of the United Kingdom’s special forces have described alleged war crimes committed by British soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq dating back over a decade.

More than 30 witnesses who served with or alongside special forces soldiers broke their silence to the BBC’s Panorama programme and spoke about illegal killings and executions of detainees, including children, during the invasions of the two countries.

David Cameron – who was prime minister from June 2010 to November 2013, the period now under scrutiny by a judge-led public inquiry into special forces – was repeatedly made aware of concerns about night raids and killings raised by then-Afghan President Hamid Karzai, according to the BBC.

A spokesman for Cameron said “any suggestion that [he] colluded in covering up allegations of serious criminal wrongdoing is total nonsense”.

The special air service and the navy’s special boat service, the UK’s top special forces units, were at the centre of the testimonies.

“They handcuffed a young boy and shot him,” recalled one veteran who served with the elite soldiers in Afghanistan. ”He was clearly a child, not even close to fighting age.”

Killing of detainees “became routine”, the veteran said, adding that the soldiers would remove plastic handcuffs from executed detainees and plant weapons by their bodies to make it look like they were fighters in photographs taken from the scene.

Another veteran with the navy’s special forces regiment said some service members displayed “barbaric” and “psychopathic” behaviour as they felt untouchable by the law.

One former soldier described the killings as something that could turn “addictive” as some soldiers became “intoxicated by that feeling” in Afghanistan.

“On some operations, the troops would go into guesthouse-type buildings and kill everyone there,” he said. “They’d go in and shoot everyone sleeping there, on entry. It’s not justified, killing people in their sleep.”

Even wounded people who did not pose a threat to anyone were executed in breach of international law, witnesses said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A former special forces operator said an execution of an unarmed person in Iraq was never properly investigated, adding that senior commanders were aware of the problem long before deploying to Afghanistan.

The BBC also obtained new video evidence that showed squadrons kept kill counts to compete with others.

One veteran said a former colleague was trying to get kills on every single operation, having become “notorious” for killing dozens of people.

Another veteran said “everyone knew” about the killings in the UK special forces command with testimonies indicating officers would falsify postoperational reports to avoid scrutiny.