LIBYA: Amnesty International offers evidence of Libyan detainee killings

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Amnesty International officials claim they have evidence that Moammar Kadafi’s guards killed detainees at two Tripoli military camps this week.

The London-based human rights group released a statement Friday relating what they had been told by men who escaped the camps, and demanding an end to the killings.

Here’s what one of them said, according to Amnesty:

Hussein Lafi, 40, of Zawiya, claimed he was among those who escaped from the Khilit Ferjan camp in southwest Tripoli. He had been held there since June with his three brothers as punishment for supporting the opposition, he said.

He said guards shot at about 160 detainees as they attempted to flee the converted metal hangar, hurling grenades at them.

“I was standing by the door when I spotted two guards. They immediately opened fire, and I saw one of them holding a hand grenade. Seconds later, I heard an explosion, followed by four more,’ he said.

‘I fell on the ground face down; others fell on top of me, and I could feel their warm blood,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t see anything [because of] the smoke. People were screaming and there were many more rounds of fire.

“When the shooting finally stopped, I got up and started looking for my brothers. I first saw Jamal’s body. He was dead. Then, I found Osama, who was still speaking. He didn’t make it. He was shot in the heart and had other wounds on his leg,’ he said. ‘My brother Mohamed didn’t die immediately either. I tried to stop the bleeding from his thigh, but didn’t succeed,’ he said.

He fled the hangar, and has not returned.

‘I have no idea what happened to the bodies of my brothers,” he said.

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--Molly Hennessy-Fiske