TRIPOLI, Libya

Libyan authorities exhumed two bodies from a new mass grave south of the capital Tripoli on Monday.

In a statement, the General Authority for Research and Identification of Missing Persons said the two unidentified bodies were found in a grave in the town of Sog Al-Khamies, nearly 50 kilometers south of Tripoli.

The town was under the control of Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar before he was defeated by Libyan government forces in June 2020, and was consequently forced to retract to his stronghold in Benghazi city in eastern Libya.

Discoveries of mass graves are common in war-torn Libya, especially in Tarhuna city, a former stronghold for 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.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar