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Prison massacre: 1,270 bodies found
Source: Agencies |
September 26, 2011, Monday
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LIBYA'S interim rulers said yesterday they have found a mass grave containing the bodies of 1,270 inmates killed by Moammar Gadhafi's security forces in a 1996 massacre at a Tripoli prison.
To the east of the capital, NATO bombers struck the city of Sirte to clear the way for fighters with the National Transitional Council who are trying to capture Gadhafi's hometown.
But Gadhafi loyalists showed they are still a threat by attacking the desert oasis town of Ghadames, on the border with Algeria. The interim government said the attacks were repulsed but some reports said fighting continues.
A spokesman for the Tripoli Military Council said investigators had found the mass grave about two weeks ago.
The uprising that toppled Gadhafi was ignited by protests linked to the 1996 Abu Salim massacre. In February, families of inmates killed there demonstrated in the eastern city of Benghazi to demand the release of their lawyer.
Dr Osman Abdul Jalil, a medical official, said: "We are dealing with more than 1,270 martyrs and must distinguish each one from the other for identification by comparing their DNA with family members. It may take years to reach the truth."
Human rights groups have estimated about 2,000 Abu Salim inmates were killed in the massacre.
Earlier this weekend, the forces of the NTC pushed to within a few hundred meters of the center of Sirte - one of the last bastions of pro-Gadhafi resistance in Libya - but later drew back to let NATO jets do their work.
Ahmed Bani, an NTC military spokesman in Tripoli, said: "Yesterday our freedom fighters attacked Sirte from two sides. That does not mean Sirte is free now, but it is an indication it will be free soon. I am asking now any militiamen fighting on the side of the tyrant (to realize) the game is over."
NATO said among targets around Sirte struck by sorties on Saturday were command facilities, a military staging area, a storage bunker and radar facility, and 29 armed vehicles.
Taking Sirte would be a huge boost for the NTC as it tries to establish credibility as a government, and a blow for Gadhafi, widely believed to be on the run inside Libya.
But it is an awkward proposition because pro-Gadhafi fighters there are well armed and many of the residents have family and tribal ties to Gadhafi.
Accounts from NTC fighters and people who had managed to leave Sirte indicate that pro-Gadhafi forces are trying to prevent civilians leaving.
To the east of the capital, NATO bombers struck the city of Sirte to clear the way for fighters with the National Transitional Council who are trying to capture Gadhafi's hometown.
But Gadhafi loyalists showed they are still a threat by attacking the desert oasis town of Ghadames, on the border with Algeria. The interim government said the attacks were repulsed but some reports said fighting continues.
A spokesman for the Tripoli Military Council said investigators had found the mass grave about two weeks ago.
The uprising that toppled Gadhafi was ignited by protests linked to the 1996 Abu Salim massacre. In February, families of inmates killed there demonstrated in the eastern city of Benghazi to demand the release of their lawyer.
Dr Osman Abdul Jalil, a medical official, said: "We are dealing with more than 1,270 martyrs and must distinguish each one from the other for identification by comparing their DNA with family members. It may take years to reach the truth."
Human rights groups have estimated about 2,000 Abu Salim inmates were killed in the massacre.
Earlier this weekend, the forces of the NTC pushed to within a few hundred meters of the center of Sirte - one of the last bastions of pro-Gadhafi resistance in Libya - but later drew back to let NATO jets do their work.
Ahmed Bani, an NTC military spokesman in Tripoli, said: "Yesterday our freedom fighters attacked Sirte from two sides. That does not mean Sirte is free now, but it is an indication it will be free soon. I am asking now any militiamen fighting on the side of the tyrant (to realize) the game is over."
NATO said among targets around Sirte struck by sorties on Saturday were command facilities, a military staging area, a storage bunker and radar facility, and 29 armed vehicles.
Taking Sirte would be a huge boost for the NTC as it tries to establish credibility as a government, and a blow for Gadhafi, widely believed to be on the run inside Libya.
But it is an awkward proposition because pro-Gadhafi fighters there are well armed and many of the residents have family and tribal ties to Gadhafi.
Accounts from NTC fighters and people who had managed to leave Sirte indicate that pro-Gadhafi forces are trying to prevent civilians leaving.
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