TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI: Eight civilians were killed in an airstrike near Tripoli Monday, the U.S. ambassador said, as Libya’s internationally recognized government pressed on with an assault to recapture the capital it abandoned to rivals last year.

Four years after NATO warplanes helped dislodge dictator Moammar Gadhafi, Libya has descended into chaos, with two rival governments fighting for control, both fielding armies of former rebel fighters and air forces that bomb rival territory.

The internationally recognized government has been based in the country’s east since being driven out of the capital last August by an alliance of armed groups called Libya Dawn, which has set up its own rival government and parliament.

Friday, the east-based government announced an assault to recapture Tripoli, even as the sides are both attending U.N.-hosted peace talks in Morocco.

Western countries fear a total collapse of central authority in a country of 6 million people a short sail from Europe. Islamist militants, including fighters who proclaim loyalty to Al-Qaeda or ISIS, have taken advantage of the chaos to establish bases, attack oil fields and enter central regions.

Forces loyal to the eastern government claimed responsibility for the airstrike in Tarhouna, a town south of Tripoli, saying they had hit a military base. They also said that they shot down a jet flown by Libya Dawn pilots.

“Terrible news today from Tarhouna where eight innocent displaced Tawergha killed in airstrikes,” U.S. Ambassador Deborah Jones said in a tweet, referring to members of a minority group, thousands of whom were displaced after Gadhafi fell.

“This violence serves no one’s interests,” said Jones, who is based outside Libya since most diplomats were evacuated from Tripoli last year. Tripoli-based Nabaa television also said several civilians had been killed.

The eastern air force commander Saqer al-Joroushi said his plans had hit a “military camp.”

Mohammad al-Tarhouni, the spokesman of the town’s municipality, said the planes hit an empty farm near a camp of displaced Tawergha.

Forces in the western Zintan region, where armed groups are allied to the eastern government, said that they had shot down a Libya Dawn jet trying to attack the local airport.

“Two pilots of the Dawn jet downed this morning have been found,” said Omar Matooq, spokesman of Zintan airport. “One of them was found dead after suffering burns. The other pilot is alive and has been arrested.”

An official in the Tripoli administration backed by Libya Dawn said the plane had crashed due to a technical fault.

The United Nations has been trying to persuade the rival governments to form a unity cabinet, but the fighting and internal divisions on both sides have undermined attempts at dialogue.

Sunday, U.N. Special Envoy Bernardino Leon said talks trying to form a government would be extended for two more days despite the clashes. Diplomats say they accept that moderates attending the talks from both sides will face difficulty in persuading hardliners to accept any deal.