Libya: Pro-Haftar forces used banned landmines, documents show

Commanders affiliated with Libya’s renegade General Khalifa Haftar’s forces instructed their subordinates to lay landmines in the vicinity of the capital, Tripoli, during the militia’s attack on the city in 2020, a new document has revealed.

The document, believed to have been issued on 11 April 2020, included instructions issued by Major General Saleh Abdullah Abboud to form a committee of officers who would identify areas where landmines can be planted.

The last civilian victims of the mines were two child siblings, Muath and Fida, who had died on Tuesday as a result of a landmine explosion in the outskirts of the capital, Tripoli.

The Libyan Ambulance and Emergency Service said the two siblings had died next to their home in the Ain Zara area, the Libyan News Agency reported.

Libya’s National Safety Authority has recently begun operations in several areas to survey and dismantle explosives and remnants of war, at a time when UNICEF says that there are more than half a million people believed to be at risk in Libya because of these explosives.

Last July, the National Unity Government revealed that about 35 areas are suspected of being contaminated with landmines and remnants of war that will be targeted by field surveys by the Libyan Mine Action Centre, in partnership with national and international agencies.

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