The Tripoli Masscres: Airport Road Mass Grave

April 24, 2012 
(incomplete)
last update April 28

<< The Tripoli Massacres

 I hear there are reports of as many as 1,000 bodies being found in a mass grave south of Tripoli, not far at all from the site of late August massacres: the Khamis Brigade shed massacre, the nearby Qasr Ben Ghashir non-massacre of August 21,22, and/or 24, and probably closer yet to the bodies of 22 brutalized black men executed behind a mosque. Somewhere around there, on Airport Road, eight months later, this new thing I'll explore below.

The sort-of-shocking news was mentioned in recent comments, but doesn't seem to have been widely reported yet. Google News Search for Tripoli mass grave still brings up only a recent story "confirming" Shiite cleric Moussa Al-Sadr was killed in Libya and buried in one of Gaddafi's Tripoli mass graves last year. Duh.

A few things for now: Libya S.O.S.:

Sunday, 22.04- There are reports that 1000 dead bodies were found in Tripoli . In the airport road there were bodies found buried, 600 bodies were found and they all still had their phones on them, And they had their hands tied behind their backs.

Ahmed Sanalla @ASanalla 22 Apr reports that around 1000 bodies have been found in mass graves near Airport road in #Tripoli #Libya, bodies are being transferred to morgues

Abdullah Esharif @HerrEsharif 22 Apr discover massive graves at the airport road #Tripoli with nearly 1000 dead bodies source : #Libya news agency

http://inagist.com/all/194044807272861697/

Mauritania are you listening? More than 1000 bodies of the martyrs have been found in a mass grave in #Tripoli #Libya #BringSenussi

He might be able to identify some of his colleagues. Nah, it's been eight months. They could be, and will be, anyone now.

 Clay Claiborne has bad math and/or objectivity skills, but also has a report and a picture allegedly from the site of this grave.

BREAKING NEWS: An hour ago Libyan Youth Movement reported that another mass grave has been found near Tripoli. This one may have up to a thousand bodies in it. 

[picture, at least 13 bodies tightly wrapped in white cloth with no visible dirt?] 

Another mass grave was discovered on Treeg Mattar (Airport Highway), Tripoli with up to 1,000 bodies; 600 were piled in groups on top of each other, some still had their mobiles on their person others had their hands tied with wire via Breaking Tripoli

1,000, or even 600, would be the single biggest mass grave yet found. The 900 bodies found in suburban mass graves last year were scattered across many sites. The 800+ in the Misrata "invader's cemetery" are a cemetary, not a mass grave. The Sirte mass grave ... I'll have to check back on that.

If there were two graves of that scale found at the same time, wow... These are almost sure to hold people killed in that period when rebels were semi-violently freeing the country, mostly getting lots of hugs and defectors, and the loyalists were flee-killing all kinds of good Libyans who often tended to turn African with decay.

April 25: Claiborne has his issues, but I have mine, like poor reading comprehension on occasion, especially in the wee hours. It could be, and probably is, that by "another mass grave" he meant the same one, as in "yes indeed, another mass grave, in addition to all the others unearthed..." Duh.

Still nothing official, or it'd likely be fairly high on the Google News search. Today for "Libya mass grave" I see a Benghazi mass grave, with news Anton Hammerl's remains might be in there. Again, the outsiders are getting all kinds of news about their missing, but so long as it's anonymous Libyans... Narrowing the search to Tripoli mass grave helps none. Web search has this post #1, but also Libyan Youth Movement's Facebook page with just what Claiborne quoted them with (because that's what the second part was), and the picture of the bodies that looks like they're being buried, not dug up. Hurriya shares some further re-tweets, and I'm seeing a few others, and that's about it. I'll see in 24 hours if there's new info or exhumation pictures, etc.

April 28: I gave it a bit longer yet, and still nothing new. Mauritania, are you listening? There was a report no one can substantiate that 1,000 bodies - we presume victims of the regime - was found and Senoussi should be sent back to answer for something he probably ordered or whatever. So get on it! Those toenails aren't pulling themselves out.