Libya – Libyan authorities have uncovered nearly 50 bodies from two mass graves in the country’s southeastern desert, officials announced on Sunday.
According to VOA, this tragic discovery highlights the dire circumstances faced by people seeking to reach Europe through the unstable North African nation.
Mass graves found in Kufra
The first mass grave, containing 19 bodies, was found on Friday at a farm in the southeastern city of Kufra.
Authorities took the bodies for autopsy and posted images on their Facebook page, showing police officers and medics recovering the dead, who were wrapped in blankets.
The al-Abreen charity, which aids migrants in eastern and southern Libya, reported that some of the victims appeared to have been shot before being buried.
Human trafficking center raided
In a separate incident, a mass grave with at least 30 bodies was discovered in Kufra following a raid on a human trafficking center.
According to Mohamed al-Fadeil, head of the security chamber in Kufra, survivors claimed nearly 70 people were buried in the grave, and authorities were still searching the area.
On Sunday, officials reported freeing 76 migrants from the trafficking center and arresting three people—one Libyan and two foreigners—on suspicion of detaining and torturing migrants.
The suspects remain in detention pending investigation.
Ongoing migrant crisis
Migrants’ mass graves are not uncommon in Libya, where last year, authorities unearthed the bodies of at least 65 migrants in the Shuayrif region, 350 kilometers south of the capital, Tripoli.
Libya is a major transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East attempting to reach Europe.
The country’s descent into chaos followed the NATO-backed uprising in 2011 that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Gadhafi.
Rival governments in eastern and western Libya, backed by militias and foreign governments, have ruled the country for the past decade.
25 travellers killed in Jos buried in mass grave
Legit.ng reported that twenty-five travellers killed by hoodlums at the Gada-Biyu area of Jos-Zaria road in Jos North local government area of Plateau state have been buried in a mass grave at Dadinkowa cemetery, according to Daily Nigerian.
The newspaper stated that the hoodlums had intercepted about 92 travellers in five 18-seater buses and killed 25 of them.
The Plateau state police command in a statement on Saturday, August 14, confirmed the attack, saying 22 persons died and 14 injured.
