In Libya’s civil war, where conflicting accusations collide and dusty farmlands have become a battleground, there was little doubt about the conflict’s human toll, no matter its nature or numbers.
The scene was gruesome and chaotic in the seaside town of Zlitan on Tuesday as sweaty cameramen and government officials crowded into the tiny, sweltering hospital morgue, clutching scarves and paper masks to protect against the sickening smell.
The sights, as medical workers unzipped some of the body bags lying haphazardly on the floor, were even worse: jumbled body parts coated with blood and dust; a foot stacked the wrong way against someone’s corpse; the heartbreaking sight of a limp child still in diapers. Such is the reality of the Libya conflict more than four months after Western nations began their airstrikes to help a ragtag rebel force defeat troops loyal to longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The allegations from Gaddafi’s government on Tuesday that the latest NATO strikes had killed scores of civilians could further strain a campaign that has waning support and no clear end in sight.
Officials in Tripoli, hoping to show the world that NATO bombings have strayed from military targets, rushed foreign reporters onto a bus to witness the aftermath of airstrikes they said had killed 85 civilians – 33 children, 32 women, 20 men – late the night before. “Only God knows why these people were targeted,” said Faraj Mohamed, another resident of the village of Majar, where the isolated farmhouses were struck about 10 kms (six miles) south of the Mediterranean coast.
For residents like Mohamed, mindful of Italy’s colonial experiment in Libya and decades of Western interest in its oil riches, the deaths were further proof that no good could come of foreign involvement here.
When reporters arrived, they saw that massive blasts had collapsed the concrete farmhouses, surrounded by high walls in the middle of stubbly, dry fields. Inside, the rubble was littered with blankets, mattresses and children’s schoolbooks. There was no evidence of weaponry.
