CAIRO (AP) — Five women were killed and five others were wounded, including a child, when their houses were shelled near Libya's capital Tripoli, a health official with the U.N.-recognized government said Thursday.

Mortar shells hit civilian houses late Wednesday in the towns of Ain Zara and Bin Ghahsir to the south of the capital, leaving exclusively female casualties, according to Amin al-Hashemi, the Tripoli-based government's health spokesman.

Libya is divided between two governments, one in the east and another in the west.

Last year, the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, which is allied with the eastern government, launched a military offensive to wrestle the capital from its western rival. The offensive has led to a military stalemate, killed hundreds of civilians and displaced hundreds of thousands. Earlier this year, world leaders convened in Germany to mediate a cease-fire between the country's warring parties but so far diplomatic efforts have failed to result in a cessation of violence.