South Sudan probes reported deaths of 9 migrants in Libya airstrike

South Sudan said Thursday it is probing reports that nine of its citizens were killed in Libya during last week's airstrike that killed more than 50 people in a migrant detention center in the capital, Tripoli, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

A senior foreign ministry official said the country's embassy in Egypt is engaging Libyan authorities to establish facts after a local media outlet reported that at least nine South Sudanese died during the deadly air raid in Tajoura detention Centre.

"We have received reports that South Sudanese were among people killed in Libya. We want to find out exactly how many (South Sudanese migrants) were there and the number of those probably killed," ministry spokesman Mawien Makol Arik said on phone.

The UN said the Tajoura detention Centre was holding some 600 migrants at the time of the attack.

The conflict-torn north African country is a major transit point for African migrants seeking to cross to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea.