Attack on Libya police camp kills 50

A truck bomb has hit a police training centre in the Libyan town of Zliten, killing at least 50 people, an official says.

At least 50 people have been killed in a truck bombing targeting a police camp in the Libyan coastal city of Zliten, a medical official says.

The attack also injured around 127 people, the director of the town's hospital, Abdel-Motleb bin Halim, told Libya's official news agency LANA.

Hospitals in Zliten, around 160 kilometres east of the capital Tripoli, have appealed to local residents to donate blood for the injured victims of the attack, according to LANA.

The truck packed with explosives crashed into the gate of the camp where coastguards are trained, local officials said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

"We have information that a boat carrying strangers arrived in the town two days ago," said Siarj al-Rashdi, an official at the Zliten security directorate.

"Yesterday we mounted a campaign to collect all strangers staying in the town illegally. But unfortunately, this did not stop the disaster."

Zliten is a commercial town not known for sheltering militants.

The town is also regarded as a centre for illegal migrants seeking to reach Europe.