With Gadhafi Forces Gone, Tripoli Atrocities Uncovered

110 killings documented by Human Rights Watch thus far
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 29, 2011 6:22 AM CDT
With Gadhafi Forces Gone, Tripoli Atrocities Uncovered
Burnt bodies are seen in a warehouse at the site of a massacre, photographed yesterday in Tripoli, Libya. Up to 145 people were detained in a warehouse which was then set on fire to on the 23rd of August, locals said.   (Getty Images)

As rebels cement their control of Libya and continue toward Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, human rights observers are discovering evidence of ever more bloody atrocities committed in Tripoli in recent days, reports the Wall Street Journal. Human Rights Watch workers have documented 110 bodies in four locations around the capital, many found with their arms tied behind their back or killed execution-style; one location contained evidence that indicated regime loyalists were behind the deaths.

"The evidence we have been able to gather so far strongly suggests that Gadhafi government forces went on a spate of arbitrary killing as Tripoli was falling," said a Human Rights Watch representative. The Journal notes that a rash of killings apparently took place Aug. 20 and 21. Witnesses pointed to low-level bullet holes in the sides of buildings, patios slick with drying blood, and swarms of flies. "They were shooting at anything," said one man who witnessed Gadhafi troops retreating. (More Moammar Gadhafi stories.)

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