The United Nations says an air strike which killed more than 44 migrants at a detention centre on the outskirts of the Libyan capital, Tripoli may amount to a war crime.

More than 130 people were injured in the strike which has been blamed on forces led by military warlord, General Khalifa Haftar but his troops accuse the Libyan government of carrying out the attack.

Most of the dead are believed to be sub-Saharan Africans attempting to reach Europe from Libya by sea. Thousands of them are held in government-run detention centres.

The head of the UN Mission in Libya, Ghassan Salama also expressed shock at the attack inside a hangar at the Tajoura Detention Centre which houses more than 600 migrants.

An official in the Libyan health ministry, Dr Khalid Bin Attia, described the carnage for the BBC after visiting the scene:

“People were everywhere, the camp was destroyed, people are crying here, there is psychological trauma, the lights cut off.

“We couldn’t see the area very clear but just when the ambulance came, it was horrible, blood is everywhere, somebody’s guts in pieces.”  

The UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) which is led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, accused the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) of carrying out the air strike on the centre.

The LNA, led by Gen Haftar was reportedly fighting government forces in the area where the strike happened. The group had announced on Monday that it would start heavy air strikes on targets in Tripoli after ‘traditional means’ of war had been exhausted.

The LNA however claimed its warplanes had bombed a pro-government camp near the centre and pro-government forces had fired shells in response, hitting the migrant centre by accident.

Human rights groups have highlighted the poor conditions at the detention centres where many migrants end up as the EU works with the Libyan coastguard to intercept migrant boats.