Libyan soldiers said on Monday they had detained more than 300 migrants who were crossing the desert and trying to make it to the shores of the Mediterranean.

Aerial photos released by the 444 brigade - a force operating under the Libyan army based in the capital Tripoli - showed groups of men, women and children sitting on the ground, surrounded by soldiers.

The migrants were stopped by a desert patrol and would be "referred to the competent authorities," the brigade said on its Facebook page early on Monday. It did not say when they were detained.

Libya has had little peace since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, and the country split in 2014 between western and eastern factions, with rival administrations governing from Tripoli and from Benghazi.

The country has become a key transit route for hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing conflict and poverty across Africa, parts of the Middle East and other areas, hoping to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.