An injured illegal immigrant gets treatment at a hospital in Bani Walid town, Libya, May 23, 2018. Twenty-five illegal immigrants were injured when human smugglers shot them on Wednesday, as they were trying to escape from the detention on the outskirts of Bani Walid town, according to a security source. (Xinhua)
TRIPOLI, May 23 (Xinhua) -- 25 illegal immigrants were injured when human smugglers shot them on Wednesday northwest of Libyan capital Tripoli, as they were trying to escape from the detention, according to a security source.
"Dozens of immigrants attempted to escape from the detention location in the outskirts of Bani Walid town. While they were exiting, they were shot by human smugglers, injuring 25 of them," Salim bin Dalla, official of the police department of Bani Walid, told Xinhua.
"50 other immigrants managed to escape and came to us. We housed them and provided them with food," Bin Dalla added, confirming that a security force is being prepared to storm a location suspected of illegally detaining immigrants.
"Our information indicates that a farm located 12 km south of the city is believed to be the location where the human smugglers detain the immigrants," Bin Dalla said.
Mohamed Salem, supervisor of Bani Walid hospital, said that the "emergency department of the hospital received 25 immigrants of different African nationalities, with varying degrees of severity."
"All of the immigrants were shot in different parts of their bodies," Salem told Xinhua, pointing out that the injured immigrants confirmed that a number of immigrants were killed and the injured are still near the detention location from which they escaped.
Bani Walid is a major transit point for illegal immigrants coming from the southern Libyan desert on a journey that lasts for days to the western coast, where they are transported by boats to European shores.
A total of 21 illegal African immigrants died in February as a result of a traffic accident, when a truck overturned on a desert road south of Bani Walid.
