The number of bodies exhumed from a 2011 mass grave in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, has risen to 73, as excavation efforts continue, local authorities reported. In the past two days, the Search and Identification of Missing Persons Authority recovered an additional 27 bodies from the Bi’r al-Esta area in Tajoura, where the grave is located.
This discovery follows the authority’s announcement on November 1 that 46 bodies had already been found at the site, which dates back to Libya’s 2011 conflict during the Arab Spring.
Protests against Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule erupted that year, leading to violent clashes in Tripoli and Benghazi, where regime forces opened fire on demonstrators, resulting in dozens of civilian casualties.
As the conflict spread, Gaddafi’s forces engaged in fierce fighting with opposition fighters before he fled Tripoli, retreating to his hometown of Sirte. The excavation in Bi’r al-Esta aims to recover the bodies of those who lost their lives in one of the country’s most tumultuous periods.
