11 unidentified bodies discovered in Libya’s Sirte

 At least 11 bodies were discovered in the northern coastal city of Sirte and transferred to a local hospital for identification sampling, the Libyan authorities said on Friday.

The samples taken at the Ibn Sina Hospital “will be transferred to (official) laboratories in coordination with the Forensic Medicine Department,” the Libyan General Authority for Research and Identification of Missing Persons said in a statement.

“The bodies were properly buried,” the statement added.

Sirte, located some 450 km east of the capital Tripoli, used to be controlled by Islamic State (IS) militants, before they were defeated and expelled from the city in 2016 by the former UN-backed Government of National Accord.

The city of Sirte was heavily destroyed and was the target of heavy NATO shelling and violent clashes on the ground, before Gaddafi was overthrown.

Libya has been suffering violence and insecurity since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011.

E.M