Tripoli - Brussels: Europe and Arabs - Agencies
Libyan authorities have found about 50 bodies in two mass graves in the country's desert in the past few days, in the latest tragedy affecting migrants seeking to reach Europe via Libya, which is suffering from chaos, according to what officials reported on Sunday.
The Security Directorate announced the discovery of the first mass grave on Friday inside a farm in the city of Kufra in the southeast of the country, where 19 bodies were recovered and later transferred for autopsy.
The Security Directorate of Al-Wahat published photos showing police officers and paramedics extracting bodies wrapped in blankets from the sand.
For its part, the Al-Abreen Charitable Association, which is concerned with helping migrants in eastern and southern Libya, reported that some of the victims were executed by shooting before being buried.
In another discovery, authorities found a mass grave containing at least 30 bodies in Kufra, following a raid on a human trafficking center, according to what was announced by Mohammed Al-Fadhil, head of the city's security room. Al-Fadhil quoted survivors as saying that nearly 70 people were buried there, while search operations continue at the site. According to what was published by the European news network in Brussels, "Euronews", which added, "Mass graves of migrants are a tragic recurring scene in Libya, as authorities found the remains of 65 migrants last year in the Al-Shuwayrif area, 350 kilometers south of the capital, Tripoli.

Libya is a major transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East seeking to reach Europe, taking advantage of the instability that has prevailed in the country since the overthrow of leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The country has suffered for more than a decade from a political division between two rival governments in the east and west, each supported by militias and regional and international alliances.

Human traffickers have exploited this security vacuum to smuggle migrants across Libya's borders with six countries, including Chad, Niger, Sudan, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia.

Once they reach the coast, migrants are piled into boats that are not qualified to undertake the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean.

Over the years, Human rights and international organizations have documented systematic violations against migrants in Libya, ranging from forced labor, torture, rape, and extortion. Those intercepted and returned to Libya, including women and children, face harsh conditions in government detention centers, where they are subjected to further ill-treatment, according to human rights and international reports.