Hundreds of migrants fled a crowded shelter west of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Ministry of Interior announced the death of an immigrant and the injury of others during the stampede and escape, and a number of policemen were wounded, it said.
But earlier, the director of the International Organization for Migration of the United Nations, Federico Suda, told AFP that the guards of the center had killed 6 migrants in these events.
"We do not know the cause of the accident, but it is related to the crowding of migrants in the center, and they live in terrible and tense conditions," Souda added.
As for the Ministry of Interior in the Libyan National Unity Government, it said in a statement posted on its Facebook page that the center located in the Ghout al-Shaal area (west of Tripoli) witnessed yesterday, Friday, hundreds of fleeing, which necessitated the intervention of the police to control the situation.
The ministry stressed that it will not tolerate "in dealing with outlaws and those who tamper with the security and stability of Libya and those involved in gangs of illegal immigration and organized crime," according to the statement.
The ministry called on the relevant international organizations to assist in the voluntary return and deportation of migrants as soon as possible, and warned what it described as paid pens on social media against spreading lies.
Earlier, Libyan sources talked about the escape from the shelter center of the Anti-Illegal Migration Agency and attributed it to the small number of personnel assigned to guard the center.
A medical source told Al Jazeera from the Tripoli Central Hospital that a number of migrants from sub-Saharan African countries arrived at the hospital with injuries, without specifying the nature and causes of the injuries.
For his part, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Directorates Affairs in the National Unity Government, Major General Bashir Al-Amin, confirmed that the ministry has taken preliminary investigation procedures into the circumstances of the migrants' flight.
These events come after the Ministry of Interior launched a campaign last week in which it arrested thousands of migrants and asylum seekers in the Gargash region, west of Tripoli, on charges of entering the country without official documents and committing felonies.
UNHCR suspends work
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees confirmed that the Libyan security forces arrested more than 5,000 migrants and asylum seekers during the campaign.
The UNHCR announced the suspension of its work in Libya for an indefinite period, after a number of refugees gathered in front of its headquarters in Tripoli, which, according to it, hampered its work.
UNHCR confirmed that it will continue to provide support and services to those who are eligible, in safe conditions, calling on asylum seekers to avoid personal attendance at its headquarters for the time being.
For his part, the Director of the International Organization for Migration Federico Suda said that the shelter center in the Ghout al-Shaal area can accommodate only 1,000 people, but it houses 3,000 people, including 2,000 outside the main building, but within the complex.
He went on to say that "their detention is arbitrary, and many of them have legal documents, but they are stuck in the country."
Libya is a major transit point for tens of thousands of migrants, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa, in their quest to reach Europe through the Italian coasts, which are about 300 km from the Libyan shores.
Several non-governmental organizations and UN agencies regularly denounce the dire conditions in detention centers in Libya, where smugglers have benefited in the last ten years from the instability.