Hundreds of Islamic State corpses await repatriation from Libya

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Hundreds of Islamic State corpses await repatriation from Libya

 

 

MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) - Seven months after Libyan forces defeated Islamic State in the coastal city of Sirte, hundreds of bodies of foreign militants still lie stored in freezers as authorities negotiate with other governments to decide what to do with them, local officials say.

 

The corpses have been shipped to Misrata, a city further to the west whose forces led the fight to defeat Islamic State in Sirte in December.

 

Allowing the bodies to be shipped home to countries such as Tunisia, Sudan and Egypt would be sensitive for the governments involved, wary of acknowledging how many of their citizens left to fight as jihadists in Iraq, Syria and Libya.

 

"Our team removed hundreds of bodies," a member of the Misrata organised crime unit dealing with the bodies told Reuters, his face masked to conceal his identity because of security concerns.

 

"This is the main operation which allows us to preserve the bodies, document and photograph them and also collect DNA samples."

 

The crime unit said it was awaiting a decision from the Prosecutor General, who was in talks with foreign governments over the return of the bodies.

 

Islamic State has now been defeated in its main stronghold in the Iraqi city of Mosul and is under pressure in its base in the Syrian city of Raqqa. But at the height of its territorial control it attracted recruits from the Middle East, North Africa and Europe to its ranks.

 

In Tunisia alone, officials say more than 3,000 citizens left to fight in Syria, Iraq and Libya. Tunisians who trained in militant camps in Libya carried out two gun attacks on foreign tourists in 2015 that battered Tunisia's vital tourism industry.

 

Islamic State took over Sirte in 2015, taking advantage of infighting between rival Libyan armed factions and using the city as a base from which to attack oil fields and other nearby towns.

 

(Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-23

 

[DoctorG]

I really do not see what the problem is. If the various countries do not retrieve the bodies then, dig a big hole, burn the bodies, fill it in. Done.

[ezzra]

1 hour ago, DoctorG said:

I really do not see what the problem is. If the various countries do not retrieve the bodies then, dig a big hole, burn the bodies, fill it in. Done.

Thoe dead mongrels will be to busy to notice anyway by now frolicking with the 72 virgins each...

[jobwolf]

Dig a hole in the sand and cover the dogs.

[F4UCorsair]

Toss them out in the desert and have ants strip them to bones...... better than they deserve.

[anon4546543]

No one wants to create an area to honour martyrs.  It is no use elevating these scum to some sort of prominence.  Like wise, the battle to defeat this latest scourge is not over by a long shot. I truly hope that all future endeavours will be to try to form some sort of consensus between all forms of extremism.  Yeah, I know I am talking BS. But where do we start narrowing the divide?

 

For me it must start in our own western countries. We let them in and it is too late to stop the rot.  So we need to offer potential Islam extremists another alternative. Only Allah knows what that might be.

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

Why should a strapped country like Libya have to pay for terrorist corpse repatriations? Take record put in bodybags, mass grave and have an Imam come out for the "hukalah hukalah". Their relatives can pay to dig them out later if they have the resources.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[Ulic]

9 hours ago, spiderorchid said:

No one wants to create an area to honour martyrs.  It is no use elevating these scum to some sort of prominence.  Like wise, the battle to defeat this latest scourge is not over by a long shot. I truly hope that all future endeavours will be to try to form some sort of consensus between all forms of extremism. Yeah, I know I am talking BS. But where do we start narrowing the divide?

 

For me it must start in our own western countries. We let them in and it is too late to stop the rot. So we need to offer potential Islam extremists another alternative. Only Allah knows what that might be.

Burry them at sea.

[anon4546543]

3 hours ago, Ulic said:

Burry them at sea.

Mid Atlantic for me. Or maybe the Mariana Trench

[Stargeezr]

Dont't waste money on these bodies,  big desert close by  and millions of ants for sure.

 Or dig a big hole in the desert and bury the lot.

Geezer

[vogie]

Put them in a pig pen and let the pigs do the rest.

[Rancid]

18 hours ago, car720 said:

perhaps, because it is an antiquated ideology, a more antiquated but proven way might be befitting.  Crucify them and line the streets of their hometowns with the crosses to serve as a reminder to anyone else thinking of joining.

One thing about the old days, they didn't have PC or media, as such they had more effective (albeit vicious) solutions to problems.Seem to recall that Vlad the Impaler also used similar to instill fear into Muslim invaders, horrific yet effective.

[simple1]

1 hour ago, Rancid said:

One thing about the old days, they didn't have PC or media, as such they had more effective (albeit vicious) solutions to problems.Seem to recall that Vlad the Impaler also used similar to instill fear into Muslim invaders, horrific yet effective.

Vlad both fought for and against the Ottomans as it suited his grabs for power. 'Impaler' moniker originally came about due to his cruelties against the Saxons. (as an aside my father was from the ethnic German region of Transylvania i.e.Saxon origins).

 

As to some of the posts above some ignorant commentary that if occurred will just reinforce Islamist extremist recruitment and ongoing violence, in the same manner that has previously happened e.g. in Iraq.

Edited July 24, 2017 by simple1