More bodies uncovered in mass graves of Libya's Tarhuna
The UN-backed government said the bodies were found blindfolded and with their wrists bound.
Forensic experts in western Libya have discovered 10 more bodies buried in mass graves, the internationally recognized government announced on Thursday.
“Three bodies were blindfolded and their wrists bound,” the Interior Ministry of the Government of National Accord (GNA) wrote in a Facebook post.
Hundreds of people have been reported missing since the Kaniyat militia took control of Tarhuna in 2015. Located some 57 miles (92 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli, the city was used as a strategic base for Gen. Khalifa Hifter’s forces during their 14-month offensive against the capital that ended in defeat this summer. The militia controlled Tarhuna until the GNA recaptured it in June.
The North African country is embroiled in a six-year-long civil war pitting the GNA against Hifter’s Libyan National Army (LNA), with each faction propped up by an array of foreign backers that have flooded the country with illegal arms and mercenaries. Hifter’s forces control much of the eastern part of the country with support from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia, and the Tripoli-based government enjoys the backing of Turkey and Qatar.
