On Thursday, Libyan authorities unearthed a mass grave of IS victims in the eastern city of Derna.
Well-informed sources said that exhumation teams have unearthed two bodies so far, affirming that DNA samples were taken for analysis in coordination with the office of forensic medicine.
One of the two identified bodies was a member of the Agricultural Police, Walid Duma Balsous, who was kidnapped by the terrorist organization in 2014. This is according to statements by the Head of the Legal Affairs Department of the Derna Municipal Council, Sufyan Balsous.
Meanwhile, the General Administration of Central Support in Derna also announced that the other body was Ibrahim Al-Sharif Al-Yaqoubi, who was kidnapped by IS on 22 December 2014.
On 16 November 2018, the Red Crescent in Libya found a mass grave in Derna, containing 22 bodies of soldiers shot dead, in an incident dating back to 2011.
About two years later, 34 bodies of IS fighters were uncovered in a mass grave in the Al-Fataeh area in Derna. They were killed during the armed clashes that took place in the city between 2015 and 2016.
Over the last few years, the Libyan National Army (LNA) launched massive campaigns against IS militants in southern and central Libya. LNA forces carried out a qualitative military operation, during which they targeted a number of militants and destroyed armoured vehicles.
Oil-rich Libya plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. In the chaos that followed, the county split, with the rival administrations backed by rogue militias and foreign governments. The country’s current political crisis stems from the failure to hold elections on 24 December 2021.
The country’s Prime Minister, Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba who is leading a transitional government in Tripoli has refused to step down. The country’s eastern-based Parliament appointed a rival Prime Minister, Fathi Bashagga, who is seeking Libya’s UN seat.
