TRIPOLI, Libya

Libyan authorities have exhumed 11 bodies from a mass grave in the coastal city of Sirte.

In a statement, the General Authority for Research and Identification of Missing Persons said the mass grave was discovered on Friday in Sirte's Al-Giza Al-Bahriya District, adding that the corpses will be taken to laboratories for forensic investigation.

On December 17, 2016, the Libyan Government of National Accord announced the complete liberation of Sirte from the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group.

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

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara