New mass grave discovered in Libya's Tarhuna

Another mass grave has been uncovered by Libyan authorities in the city of Tarhuna, south of the capital Tripoli, according to local reports on Sunday.

Some 10 bodies were unearthed on Saturday in an agricultural area known as Mashrou' Alrabet in the city, according to Lutfi Tawfiq, the General Authority for Research and Identification of Missing Persons.

It was the second grave to be discovered in the city in the last 10 days, Tawfiq told Anadolu Agency.

In March, Libyan authorities said there were 3,650 missing persons in different Libyan cities, including 350 in Tarhuna, which was a stronghold of warlord Khalifa Haftar before his forces were defeated and forced out of the city in June 2020.

Located some 80 kilometres southeast of Tripoli, Tarhuna suffered under five years of brutal rule by the pro-Haftar Kaniyat militia, who residents and officials accuse of systematically executing civilians and opponents.

The Kaniyat had pledged loyalty to Libya’s UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), but the group switched their loyalties when Haftar used the city as a launchpad for his forces during their month-long offensive to seize Tripoli in 2019.

The militia was led by six brothers, two of whom have been killed, while four remain at large.

Over 140 bodies have been exhumed from mass graves in Tarhuna, including some founded blindfolded with their wrists tied up.

The slow process to unearth the bodies buried in mass graves in the area began in June 2020, after the city was captured from Haftar.

Haftar's forces and affiliated militias are accused by rights group of committing war crimes and acts of genocide in Libya in the period between April 2019 and June 2020.

According to Human Rights Watch, 338 people have been identified as having been abducted or disappeared during the five-year rule of the Kaniyat.

"Residents reported that the militia often abducted, detained, tortured, killed and (caused the) disappearance of people who opposed them or who were suspected of doing so," HRW said.

The Libyan government has repeatedly called on the UN, the International Criminal Court (ICC) and human rights groups to demand an international investigation into the mass graves.