MANILA - The Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday advised Filipinos in the capital Tripoli and nearby areas to consider repatriation amid the ongoing clashes in the country.

The DFA said it raised Alert Level III (voluntary repatriation) to ensure the safety and security of all Filipino nationals in Libya.

The Philippine Embassy in Tripoli recommended raising the alert level following the escalation of fighting, which included shelling of residential areas near the capital.

Alert Level III covers Tripoli and areas within its 100-kilometer radius as follows:

To the East

1. Tajoura
2. Ghot Romman
3. Qaraboli
4. Qasr Khiyar

To the South

1. Esbea
2. Tarhuna
3. Bani Waled
4. Gharyan

To the West

1. Aziziya
2. Warshifana
3. Zawia
4. Surman
5. Sabratha

With this declaration, travel to Libya by Filipinos working in said areas will not be allowed until the situation stabilizes and the alert level is lowered back to Alert Level II, the DFA said.

Filipinos in areas near the fighting are also advised to move to safer areas or request the Embassy for assistance in their repatriation before the fighting intensifies.

The Philippine Embassy in Tripoli will remain open to respond to requests for assistance from Filipinos who might be affected by the fighting.

Deaths and displacements mounted in splintered Libya on Monday as eastern forces sought to push into the capital Tripoli, disregarding global appeals for a truce in the latest of a cycle of warfare since Muammar Gaddafi's fall in 2011.

The fighting threatens to disrupt oil supplies, fuel migration to Europe and wreck UN plans for an election meant to end rivalries between parallel administrations in the eastern and western parts of Libya.

The eastern Libyan National Army (LNA) forces of Khalifa Haftar - a former general in Gaddafi's army - said 19 of its soldiers had died in recent days as they closed in on the internationally recognized government in Tripoli.

A spokesman for the Tripoli-based Health Ministry said on Monday fighting in the south of the capital had killed at least 25 people, including fighters and civilians, and wounded 80.- with a report from Reuters