ROME (AFP) – 21 Oct. 2016- Armed men have attacked a boat carrying migrants off Libya, leaving at least four dead and 15 missing, German NGO Sea-Watch said Friday.

The assailants arrived aboard a vessel with Libyan coastguard insignia, and beat the migrants with clubs, sending many of them into the water, a Sea-Watch spokesman said. The organisation launched a rescue operation following the incident, which occurred overnight Thursday, he said.