2 new mass graves found in Libya’s Tarhuna

TRIPOLI, Libya

Libyan authorities on Monday found two new mass graves in the city of Tarhuna, northeast of the capital Tripoli.

A statement by the General Authority for Research and Identification of Missing Persons said the two graves were discovered in Mashru’a Alrabet area in Tarhuna, a former stronghold of eastern warlord Khalifa Haftar’s forces.

The statement did not specify how many bodies were exhumed from the two graves.

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 at least 300 dead bodies in mass graves in Tarhuna and south of Tripoli.

On Feb. 5, Libya's rival political groups agreed in UN-mediated talks to form an interim unity government to lead the country to elections this December, designating a prime minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, and tasking him with forming a new government.

Libyans hope that the move will end years of civil war that have engulfed the country since the ouster and killing of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

*Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara