LIBYAN militias said today that rockets from unidentified warplanes had killed six people in the capital Tripoli.

Fighting between militias from the cities of Misrata and Zintan has raged through Tripoli for more than a month, forcing the United Nations, Western and Arab countries to evacuate their embassies.

But clashes had previously been limited to ground action with artillery and rockets.

None of the militias are believed to own warplanes.

However, anti-militia forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar are known to include some air force elements and a militiaman from Misrata claimed that the two warplanes that attacked belonged to the renegade general.

Libyan factions trading gun and shell fire across Tripoli have been ignoring international appeals for a ceasefire to end more than a month of fighting.

The UN Mission in Libya said it “deeply regrets that there was no response to the repeated international appeals and its own efforts for an immediate ceasefire.”