Uncovering the truth

Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) claims to have uncovered a mass grave containing the remains of 1,200 prisoners massacred by the deposed regime of Moammar Gadhafi during a 1996 uprising at the Abu Salim prison in the country's capital, Tripoli.

Tensions over the massacre 16 years ago helped trigger anti-government demonstrations in the eastern city of Benghazi last February after the Gadhafi regime had arrested the lawyer representing the victims' family members.

"We are dealing with more than 1,270 martyrs and must distinguish each one from the other for identification by comparing their DNA with family members," said Dr. Osman Abdul Jalil, a medical official. "It may take years to reach the truth."

Calls for assistance

An NTC military spokesman in Tripoli, Khalid al-Sharif, said that investigators had discovered the site two weeks ago after obtaining information from people detained on suspicion of being involved in the massacre.

"The groups that did the killing, that took part, some of them are in the custody of the revolutionaries and led us to this place," Sharif said. "Some of those involved in burying them also led us here."

The NTC, meanwhile, said it lacked the resources and expertise to identify all the remains on its own and called on the international community to send assistance.

"We have no experience with this," said Ibrahim Abu Shima, a member of the NTC committee tasked with dealing with suspected mass graves.

"We need help to dig, to remove corpses and remains without mixing them," Shima said.

Offensive grinds on

NTC fighters, meanwhile, continued their push to capture Gadhafi's last remaining strongholds in Libya over the weekend. NATO warplanes bombed the Mediterranean coastal city of Sirte on Sunday in a bid to clear the way for the advancing revolutionary forces to penetrate Gadhafi's hometown.

On Saturday, NTC fighters had launched an assault on the southern city of Ghadamis, which borders Algeria. Gadhafi's wife and three children had fled to Algeria through Ghadamis before Tripoli's fall in August.

Repeated attempts to capture the city of Bani Walid, just south of Tripoli, have failed in the face of stiff resistance from Gadhafi loyalists.

The whereabouts of Gadhafi remain unknown. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for the fugitive Libyan dictator on charges of crimes against humanity.

Author: Spencer Kimball (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)
Editor: Nancy Isenson