Libya`s new rulers unveiled two mass graves on Wednesday (Oct. 5), a week after they were forced to backtrack on an earlier find of what they said was the burial site of hundreds of prisoners executed in 1996.

"Witness testimony has allowed us to uncover two mass graves of victims of the old regime," Tripoli security chief Naji al-Issawi told a news conference in the Libyan capital.

A mass grave at Gargaresh, on the coast some seven kilometres (four miles) from the centre of Tripoli, contained an estimated 200 bodies, he said.

A second in Birasta Milad, a rural area 10 kilometres (six miles) from the city centre contained an estimated 700, he added.

Issawi did not elaborate on how those buried in the graves were believed to have died but, judging by the lack of decomposition, those bodies seen by AFP had not died long ago.

A pathologist told journalists at the Gargaresh grave site that at least two of the bodies had bullet wounds and around 20 had fractured skulls.

On September 25, Libya`s new rulers said they had unearthed a mass grave of 1,700 prisoners slain by Moamer Kadhafi`s regime in a 1996 uprising, a massacre that helped trigger the revolt that ousted the despot.

But two days later, they acknowledged they were not certain about the find after reports emerged that some of the remains appeared to be of animals.

Source: ANTARA