Libya's UN-backed government could close all migrant centres

Libya's internationally recognised government is mulling closing all the country's migrant detention centres following the bombing of the Tajoura facility in Tripoli which killed at least 53 people and seriously injured 130, local media reported.

"Interior minister Fathi Bashagha: The Government of National Accord is discussing the closure of all migrants' detention centers in Libya and releasing all detained migrants for their safety," the Libyan Observer tweeted on Thursday.

The United Nations refugee and migration agencies called on Wednesday for the immediate release of some 3,300 migrants who are detained in Libya, their evacuation from the war-wracked former Italian colony and the closure of all of its detention centres.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged an independent investigation into the circumstances of the air raid on the Tajoura centre late on Tuesday in which at least six children were killed.

The UN's human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Wednesday the attack may amount to a war crime.