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TRIPOLI, Libya – The death toll from Tuesday’s airstrikes on a detention centre in the suburbs of Tripoli has risen to fifty three, following the death of several people who had been critically injured in the attack.

UN agencies confirm that six children were among those who perished.

Disturbingly, the party responsible for the attacks has not been identified. On Friday the UN Security Council condemned the attack and ‘expressed deep concern,’ but mafde no mention of calling for an investigation or demanding that the perpetrators be brought to justice.

The airstrikes on Tuesday night, on the migrant detention centre in the Libyan capital Triploi, had intially resulted in the deaths of 44 people.

Another 130 people have suffered physical injuries, while they and numerous others of the survining migrants and refugees are believed to be “severely traumatized.”

UN aid agencies on Friday, reiterated their appeal for all migrant detention centres in the war-torn country to be shut down.

Joel Millman from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), confirmed six children were among the fatalities at the Tajoura site.

The 600 migrants and refugees who were being hloused at the centre at the time of the attack are said to be from seventeen countries, mostly from the African continent.

Some 350 migrants, including twenty women and are children –are still being detained at Tajoura, the IOM spokesperson said, noting that he was unable to confirm reports that guards had fired on migrants trying to flee.

In the aftermath of Tuesday’s devastation, the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ghassan Salamé, led calls for an international inquiry, insisting it could “clearly…constitute a war crime.”

Echoing that appeal, UNHCR‘s Charlie Yaxley noted that both parties involved in the fight for Tripoli – the UN-recognised Government and forces loyal to self-styled Libyan National Army commander, Khalifa Haftar – knew where civilians were sheltering.

“We reiterate once again that the coordinates of these detention centres in Tripoli are well-known to both sides of the conflict and this was a preventable tragedy that never should have happened,” he said, while also noting that refugees had been “severely traumatized” after seeing fellow detainees dying.

“They spoke in a state of shock, they spoke to us about seeing their fellow detainees’ body parts dismembered around the centre,” he said.

According to IOM and UNHCR, 3,300 migrants and refugees remain arbitrarily detained inside and around Tripoli.

IOM’s Mr. Millman further noted that approximately 180 of the six hundred people held in Tajoura had agreed to be evacuated under IOM’s voluntary repatriation programme, and that two of them had died in the airstrikes.

“We are not able to verify who is responsible for the attack, that’s why there needs to be this independent investigation”, UNCHR’s Mr. Yaxley said. “What we can say is that, is at this point there does need to be greater efforts, far greater efforts from the international community, particularly amongst those States who have leverage over the warring parties to bring an end to the violence.”

Addressing the dangers faced by those being held in Libya, Mr. Yaxley cited concerns that “some of these detention centres may be being used to store weapons and military equipment. We remind all parties that conflict is using civilian infrastructure in that way, would be a violation of international humanitarian law and must be avoided at all costs.”

The UN Security Council meantime issued their Press Statement on Friday afternoon in New York, which condemned the attack. They “stressed the need for all parties to urgently de-escalate the situation and to commit to a ceasefire.”

The security council “called on all parties rapidly to return to UN political mediation and reaffirmed their full support for the leadership of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ghassan Salamé. Lasting peace and stability in Libya will come only through a political solution” the statement said, noting “ongoing efforts in support by the African Union, the Arab League and others.”

They also expressed their ongoing concern over the conditions in the detention centres which are “the responsibility of the Libyan Government”, and called on “all Member States not to intervene in the conflict or take measures that exacerbate the conflict” in Libya.

(Photo credit: CNN).