The Libyan government on Thursday night claimed close to 100 civilians had died in air strikes since last Saturday, the first estimate of the number of casualties since the first day of bombing.
Libyan mourners at the martyrs' cemetery in Tripoli attend the funerals of victims of air strikes by coalition forcesState media in the country have repeatedly stressed the civilian casualties of the air strikes, which they say include many children.
But officials have been unable to give definitive figures, and have provided no firm evidence of the breakdown of civilian and military casualties.
In a reversal of practices in similar situations where governments have been keen to show off civilian losses, police and militia on Thursday detained seven journalists for an hour at a checkpoint near Tajoura Hospital in the east of the city, where casualties were to be undergoing treatment.
They were eventually escorted back to their hotel after being refused access.
A mass funeral was held at the nearby Martyrs' Cemetery for 18 people said to have been killed in raids on Wednesday night. A government official claimed they were civilian, though Mussa Ibrahim, the official spokesman, admitted that students at military academies were counted as civilians
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