East Libya-based forces has on Thursday admitted to carrying out an airstrike on the migrant camp that left dozens dead.

CEOAfrica on Wednesday reported that no fewer than 44 people were left dead and 130 others severly wounded on Tuesday in an airstrike on a migrant detention center in the Tajoura suburb of the country's capital, Tripoli.

The location “is actually a base of a military brigade and arms depot,” spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said late Wednesday at a press conference in Benghazi.

Al-Mismari added that this was not the first of such attack on what he described a “legitimate target”, claiming the camps had previously been a base for Government of National Accord (GNA) forces.

“We’ve repeatedly targeted it with airstrikes and artillery,” the spokesman said, adding: “In this case, the main responsible ones are those who brought illegal immigrants here.”

The Tripoli-based GNA blamed the airstrike on commander Khalifa Haftar’s forces.

Libya has remained beset by turmoil since 2011 when a bloody NATO-backed uprising led to the ouster and death of long-serving leader Muammar Gaddafi after more than four decades in power.

Since then, Libya’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of power -- one in Tobruk and another in Tripoli -- and a host of heavily armed militia groups.