New mass grave found in Libya's Tarhuna

TRIPOLI, Libya

The Libyan government said Wednesday a new mass grave was found in the southern city of Tarhuna.

“The grave was discovered in Alrabet project area in the city,” Abdulaziz al-Jaafari, a spokesman for the General Authority for Research and Identification of Missing Persons, told Anadolu Agency.

He said it remains unclear how many bodies were buried in the grave.

Tarhuna city was a previous stronghold for Al-Kani militia affiliated with warlord Khalifa Haftar.

According to Libyan official sources, Haftar’s forces and affiliated militias committed war crimes and acts of genocide in the period between April 2019 and June 2020.

Since June, following the defeat of Haftar’s forces in the western areas of Libya, the Libyan government found around 300 dead bodies in mass graves in Tarhuna and south of Tripoli.

Libya has been torn by civil war since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

On Feb. 5, Libya's rival political groups agreed during UN-mediated talks to form an interim unity government to lead the country to elections this December in which Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh was designated to form a new government.

*Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara