TRIPOLI, May 19 — Authorities in Libya have discovered at least 58 unidentified corpses inside a hospital morgue in Tripoli, just days after a powerful militia leader was killed, the country’s interior ministry confirmed on Monday.
The bodies were recovered from the Abu Salim Accidents Hospital, located in the densely populated Abu Salim district, which had been under the control of the Stabilisation Support Apparatus (SSA), a militia group whose commander, Abdulghani Kikli—known locally as Ghaniwa—was killed under unclear circumstances last week.
According to a statement from the ministry, the remains were found inside refrigerated units after hospital staff filed a report. Many of the bodies were in various stages of decomposition; some were charred, and most remained unidentified. Images shared by the ministry showed corpses marked with numbers and blurred faces laid out on metal trolleys and beds.
Investigators have so far examined 23 of the bodies, with legal protocols underway, including documentation and forensic sampling.
The discovery comes amid escalating tensions in Tripoli following Kikli’s death, which triggered the collapse of the SSA and a power shift in favour of forces loyal to Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah of the internationally recognised Government of National Unity (GNU). The fallout led to fierce clashes last Tuesday between rival armed groups, resulting in at least eight civilian deaths, according to the United Nations.
This marks the second grim find in less than a week. On Saturday, nine other corpses were located at Al-Khadra Hospital, another SSA-run facility in the same neighbourhood. In both cases, the ministry said the SSA had failed to report the remains to government authorities.
On Monday, the GNU released footage of bulldozers tearing down the so-called 77 camp, a major SSA stronghold. The site is slated to be converted into a national park as part of Dbeibah’s wider campaign to dismantle militia infrastructure in the capital.
Libya has remained deeply unstable since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Since 2014, the country has been divided between rival administrations in the east and west, with large-scale fighting largely halted by a 2020 truce.
