LIBYA’S coastguard detained 38 migrants and sent them to a centre that was bombed earlier this month, officials announced yesterday.

Authorities intercepted a rubber boat carrying the mostly Egyptian migrants, including a pregnant woman, on Tuesday off the coast 40 miles east of the capital Tripoli.

Coastguard spokesman Ayoub Gassim said the migrants were transferred to the Tajoura detention centre which was hit by an air strike on July 3.

More than 50 people were killed in the attack which raised fresh concerns about the country’s treatment of migrants.

The detentions were made as International Organisation of Migration director general Antonio Vitorino and UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi called for an end to the “arbitrary detention” of migrants across Libya.

They said on Tuesday that, considering the risk of abuse, maltreatment or death, “no-one should be returned to detention centres in Libya after being intercepted or rescued at sea.”

Thousands of migrants are currently being held in poorly equipped detention centres near the front lines of the latest fighting between Libyan factions.

The European Union has partnered with forces in Libya to cut down on the Mediterranean crossings.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) head of mission in Libya Sam Turner called the carnage in Tajoura “a tragedy that was foreseen and should have been avoided.”

He said: “The international community waited until it happened and then condemned, promised investigations. Despite the outrage following the deadly air strike the number of refugees and migrants detained in Tajoura continues to grow.

“Over 200 people are now detained there, after 38 — including a pregnant woman — were reported to have been taken back to Tajoura last night after they had been intercepted at sea by the EU-funded Libyan Coast Guard.

“The same EU call to end detention only reinforces the support for the coastguard operations that feed it, with those intercepted at sea and disembarked in Libya returned directly to these places of suffering and death.”

Mr Turner said the forced return of people fleeing Libya must stop and “the cycle must be broken.”

MSF repeated its calls for the immediate closure of Tajoura detention centre and the evacuation of all detained refugees and migrants out of Libya.

Sea Watch spokesperson Haidi Sadik said: “The same EU that is criminalising migrants and refugees as well as the people who rescue them at sea, is willingly transferring its own responsibilities to the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, known for violently returning people to Libya.

“This is the true criminal behaviour that must end now and must be shown accountability for by our governments. In reality, we know this behaviour is facilitated and legitimised by the deadly migration policy of the EU, which relies on the so-called Libyan Coast Guard to commit these crimes by proxy.”