As evidence of illegal killings and violations of human rights by both sides emerge in Libya, the absence of official and updated casualty figures shows many secrets are still to be revealed before the carnage wrought by nine months of civil war is known.
In August rebel leaders put the death toll
at 50,000.
"In Misrata and Zlitan between 15,000 and 17,000 were killed and Jebel Nafusa [the Western Mountains] took a lot of casualties," said Col. Hisham Buhagiar, a rebel commander. "Then there was Ajdabiyah, Brega. Many people were killed there too," he said, referring to towns repeatedly fought over in eastern Libya.
SInce then, there has been fierce fighting for Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte and Bani Walid, which was besieged for weeks and finally fell in October with heavy casualties on both sides.
From the very beginning of the Libyan conflict death counts have widely varied, illustrating the chaotic nature of the struggle.
In the first few weeks, when the United Nations [...]
What is Libya? Libya is a sovereign state in North Africa, bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south and Algeria and Tunisia to the west. The country is made of three historical regions: Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica. With an area of
almost 1.8 million square kilometres (700,000 sq mi), Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa, and is the 16th largest country in the world. Libya has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world.
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