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A mass grave containing the remains of at least 28 migrants has been uncovered in Libya’s south-east desert, the attorney general announced. The site, found north of Kufra, follows the discovery of another grave just days earlier, where 19 bodies were retrieved from a farm in the same area. Authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
Authorities uncovered the latest mass grave during a raid on a human trafficking compound, where 76 migrants were rescued from captivity and torture, the attorney general’s office announced on Facebook. It added that one Libyan national and two foreign suspects had been arrested.
“There was a gang whose members deliberately deprived illegal migrants of their freedom, tortured them and subjected them to cruel, humiliating and inhumane treatment,” the statement said.
Images circulating online depict police and volunteers digging through the sand, carefully retrieving bodies before sealing them in black bags. Authorities continue their search in Kufra, a remote town over 1,700 kilometers (1,056 miles) from Libya’s capital, Tripoli.
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Authorities have sent the recovered bodies for autopsy, with investigators suspecting links to human smuggling networks, the attorney general confirmed. Survivors’ testimonies are being documented as part of the probe. This comes after a mass grave with at least 65 migrants was discovered last year in Libya’s southwest, a finding the IOM called “deeply shocking.”
Since the overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has become a key transit route for migrants risking dangerous desert and Mediterranean Sea crossings to reach Europe. Unicef has said that in 2024 the number of people who died or went missing in the Mediterranean, trying to reach Europe, surpassed 2,200.
