THE self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) of General Khalifa Haftar said today it had bombed a warehouse in the western city of Misrata as part of its ongoing bid to take over the country.

Its announcement came as the United Nations’ Libya mission condemned LNA air raids last week on Zuwara airport, west of the capital, saying there were no military targets there. Gen Haftar’s army said it believed the airport housed Turkish-made drones belonging to militias fighting with the UN-recognised government in Tripoli, which Gen Haftar intends to supplant.

The renewed bombing will raise fears for the safety of 57 refugees, including 17 women and nine children, intercepted by the Libyan coastguard and confined in a detention centre in the coastal city of Zawiya, where a field hospital was bombed by Gen Haftar’s forces in July. A refugee detention centre at Tajoura also fell victim to an air strike earlier that month, leaving 53 dead.

That attack prompted the UN to call on the European Union to stop returning refugees rescued at sea to Libya but the bloc refused. Italy, which strongly backs the Tripoli government, with which its oil firm ENI has concessions, has insisted all migrants who depart from Libya should be returned there and accuses France of backing Gen Haftar’s revolt (French firm Total has oil interests in territory controlled by Gen Haftar). A cache of French-owned weaponry was uncovered at an LNA base seized by government forces in July, but France insisted that they had not been handed to the army and were being stored there pending destruction.