By Enyichukwu Enemanna
At least 18 bodies buried in a mass grave in an erstwhile stronghold of the Islamic State, IS militant group have been found along the crisis-ridden North African nation’s coast, Libyan authorities announced on Sunday.
In a statement, the Missing Persons Authority on Sunday stated that the corpses were unearthed in the Sabaa area of Sirte, a city in central Libya but were taken to a hospital.
Sirte is the birthplace of former longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The city however fell under the control of Islamic State militants between 2015 and 2016.
The Missing Persons Authority said they collected samples of the dead bones in an effort to identify the bodies. Further details on the cause of death for those found were not provided.
Several mass graves have been uncovered across Libya recently. In October, officials said they found 42 bodies in a mass grave at a school site in Sirte.
The militants, along with al-Qaida, gained a foothold in oil-rich Libya amid the chaos that engulfed the country after the 2011 uprising and a NATO intervention in the conflict.
The militants were eventually driven out of the city in December 2016 by Libyan forces supported by the US and allied with the UN-backed government in the capital Tripoli.
Hundreds of alleged former Islamic State fighters remain incarcerated in Libyan prisons, many of whom are awaiting trial.
Since Gadhafi’s overthrow and killing, Libya has been split between rival authorities. Sirte is now controlled by forces loyal to military leader Khalifa Haftar based in the country’s east.
In December 2018, the bodies of more than 30 men were discovered near Sirte, believed to be the corpses of a group of Ethiopian Christians whom Islamic State fighters executed in a video the group published years earlier.
