Libya finds new mass grave by Haftar militia in Tarhuna

TRIPOLI, Libya

A new mass grave was found in the southwestern city of Tarhuna that was recently liberated from warlord Khalifa Haftar’s militia, the Libyan government said on Wednesday.

“The grave contains the remains of an unidentified number of bodies,” Abdul Aziz Al-Jaafari, a spokesman for General Authority for Research and Identification of Missing Persons, told Anadolu Agency.

He said two bodies had been dug up from the grave so far.

The Libyan government has discovered several mass graves in Tripoli and Tarhuna in the wake of Haftar’s defeat in his recent offensive on Tripoli.

The Libyan authorities say that Haftar's militia and allied mercenaries have committed several war crimes and crimes against humanity in the period between April 2019 and June 2020.

On June 16, the Libyan government found 226 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. The Government of National Accord (GNA) was founded in 2015 under a UN-led agreement, but efforts for a long-term political settlement failed because of Haftar’s military offensive.

The UN recognizes the government headed by Fayez al-Sarraj as the country's legitimate authority as Tripoli has battled Haftar's militias since April 2019 in a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara