The Libyan Border Control Department on Monday, July 31, found two bodies of illegal migrants near the Tunisian border, where hundreds more remain stranded after being expelled by Tunisian authorities. The patrols found the unidentified bodies of African nationalities in Al-Assa town (near the border), according to a statement by the Libyan interior ministry of the Government of National Unity.
In parallel, Security authorities in eastern Libya freed at least 385 Pakistani migrants who were held in trafficking warehouses in an overnight raid, a migrant rights group said Monday, July 31. Al-Abreen, a group which helps migrants in Libya, said the Pakistani nationals were released early Monday from smugglers’ warehouses in the al-Khueir area, roughly 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of the eastern Libyan city of Tobruk. The migrants — among them children — were later transferred to a nearby police headquarters, it said in a post on its official Facebook page.
According to Human Rights Watch, since July 2, Tunisian security forces have collectively expelled several hundred Black African migrants and asylum-seekers, including children and pregnant women to a remote, militarized buffer zone at the Libyan-Tunisian border.
