TRIPOLI, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Three civilians were killed on Saturday in an airstrike in the south of the Libyan capital of Tripoli, a military source said.

"An airstrike targeted the highway linking Karimiya with Sawani in southern Tripoli, killing three civilians in a car headed toward downtown Tripoli," a source of the UN-backed government forces told Xinhua.

The source accused the rival east-based army of carrying out the airstrike, saying it targeted the government forces in Karimiya earlier in the day.

Libya February TV showed footage of a number of bodies and vehicles on the highway where the airstrike took place.

The UN-backed government has been engaged in a deadly armed conflict since early April in and around Tripoli against the east-based army, which is trying to take over the city and overthrow the government.

The east-based army, led by Khalifa Haftar, is allied with the east-based government, as the North African nation is politically divided between eastern and western governments.

Libya has been struggling to make a democratic transition amid insecurity and chaos ever since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.