The bodies of at least 28 migrants were recovered from the mass grave in the desert in Southeast Libya, said the state lawyer.
The grave was discovered north of Kufra, just days after another mass grave with 19 body was found on a farm in the same city.
Officials found the latest grave after a raid at the place of trade in people, where the authorities liberated 76 migrants who were detained and tortured, the office of the general lawyer posted on Facebook.
One libijk and two foreigners were arrested, he added.
“There was a gang whose members deliberately seized the illegal migrants of their freedom, tortured and subjected to them with cruel, humiliating and inhuman treatment,” the statement said.
Pictures that share through the Internet – which BBC did not independently confirm – depict the police and volunteers who were digging through the sand before putting the corpses in black bags.
Search in Kufu – more than 1,700 kilometers (1,056 miles) from the capital of Libya – continues.
The Attorney General says that the recovered bodies were taken for an autopsy, and investigators suspected relationships with smuggling networks. Authorities document the testimonies of the survivors.
Last year, a A mass grave containing bodies of at least 65 migrants It was found in the southwest of Libya. The International Migration Organization (IOM) described it as “deeply shocking” at the time.
Since the overthrow of the Libyan leader of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has become a key transit migrant route by risking dangerous desert and Mediterranean marine transitions to reach Europe.
UNICEF said that in 2024, the number of people who died or disappeared in the Mediterranean, trying to reach Europe, surpassed 2,200.
