At least 27 migrants found dead in the desert near Tunisian border, Libyan government says

By JACK JEFFERY
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — Libyan authorities said at least 27 African migrants have died in the country’s western desert near the border with Tunisia. In a statement posted on Facebook, Libya’s Interior Ministry said the bodies were discovered recently near the border and that a forensic team had been deployed to the area. In the same post, the ministry published pictures of African migrants receiving treatment from Libyan medical teams. In recent months, Tunisian security forces began removing some migrants from coastal areas, busing them elsewhere and, migrants say, dumping some of them in the desert. A local rights group that works with the Libyan authorities, said it believes Tunisian security forces had forcefully expelled the migrants, abandoning them in the desert without water or food.