‘Men Found Buried Alive’ At Gaddafi Compound
Sky News has uncovered disturbing new evidence of the barbarity of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Libya east, where the opposition movement has seized control.
Libyan revolutionaries in Benghazi claim to have rescued seven prisoners that had been buried alive.
They say the group was found entombed in a small underground cell in the city’s dreaded government compound – forbidden territory for 40 years, now overrun by the forces of revolution.
The rescuers said they heard voices underground and dug through earth and freshly laid concrete to discover the seven men, some of whom were barely alive.
Sky News was taken to the small underground chamber lined with breeze blocks and topped with new cement. There seems to have been no way in or out.
Their rescuers said some of the seven were anti-Gaddafi protesters and others were soldiers who had rebelled against the dictator.
They were now being treated in hospital.
The ground underneath the compound is yielding more dark secrets in a labyrinth of bunkers, prisons and armouries.
This was Gaddafi’s subterranean stronghold in the east of Libya. Its tunnels appear to have been stacked high with every kind of weapon.
Every box has been ripped open and ransacked by revolutionaries.
Among the debris we found labels for anti-tank jet-propelled missiles and rocket-propelled grenades.
Rack after rack of rifle stands have been stripped of their arms.
The tunnels are big enough to drive armoured vehicles through.
Graffiti in Benghazi ridicules Colonel Gaddafi, depicting him as a clown
There are rumours of a five kilometre tunnel extending from this compound to Colonel Gaddafi’s mansion and farm outside of town. But so far no one has found it.
In another part of the compound there are prison cells.
On the ceilings inmates have used the soot from cigarette lighters to write their names and those of their girlfriends and wives.
Elsewhere is the guest house where Colonel Gaddafi would stay. The walls around it are windowless.
No one was allowed to peer into this secret world.
The villa extends underground to a maze of rooms ending with an exit tunnel for easy escape.
Above ground graffiti ridicules Colonel Gaddafi – one shows him as a clown.
For years his clownish antics were a distraction. Only now are some of his worst excesses coming to light.
Elsewhere, anti-government protesters were in control of a key town just 30 miles from the capital Tripoli. SOURCE
Dozens of Libyan soldiers who refused to fight protesters in the city of Benghazi were burned alive by their ownforces, residents have told Sky News.
They said there were the charred remains of 13 troops in a room in a former military compound.
Residents added there were a total of 67 bodies in the base, which appears to be more evidence of crimes against humanity.
The city, in the east of the country, is Libya’s second largest and is now under the control of anti-regime groups after they overwhelmed dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.
A soldier has admitted he opened fire on crowds. He said he and his comrades were threatened with death if they refused to shoot.
Gaddafi knew the east was his Achilles heel and in Benghazi he took every precaution. The government compound was defended by soldiers who used all they had against the protesters.
Read Dominic Waghorn’s blog
Doctors have told Sky News that a total of 500 people, mostly pro-democracy supporters, were killed and another 1,900 hurt in the uprising in Benghazi which started over a week ago.
It is claimed the anti-government demonstrators were mainly unarmed apart from some having knives – but they overpowered government forces through sheer weight of numbers.
Meanwhile, at a courthouse a committee of 13 experts has discussed how to run various services in the city, including security and sewage.
But they pointed out they did not want people to view them as trying to hijack the revolution and were waiting for Tripoli to fall before declaring a new government. SOURCE