A tank belonging to the Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Haftar, last year. Photograph: Abdullah Doma/AFP/Getty Images

 

A spokesman for east Libyan armed forces said on Friday that as many as 141 people had been killed a day earlier in an attack on a southern air base.

Ahmed al-Mismari, a spokesman for the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), said 103 of those killed in the attack at Brak Al-Shati air base were LNA troops stationed in the area.

Earlier, the mayor of Brak Al-Shati and a medical source in the town put the death toll at 89, though the medical official said some bodies had not been brought to the hospital.

It was not possible to independently verify the number of casualties. Local and LNA officials have said that some of those killed were civilians who appeared to have been summarily executed.