A mass grave containing the bodies of 34 Ethiopian Christians martyred in 2015 by Islamic State (IS) was discovered in Sirte, Libya on 23 December last year.
The remains have been exhumed and official procedures for repatriation to Ethiopia will begin as soon as investigations have been completed. According to the Libyan Interior Ministry, the grave was found as a result of evidence gathered from detained IS members.
Sirte, the hometown of deposed leader Colonel Gaddafi, was controlled by IS in 2015 until they were defeated in late 2016 by local forces with US support.
A video posted by IS on social media in 2015 showed the brutal executions of the Christians on a beach near Sirte, on the north coast of the country.
This is the second mass grave of Christians to be discovered in Sirte. In October 2017 the bodies of 20 Egyptian martyrs were uncovered and repatriated to Cairo. A martyred Ghanaian man killed alongside them was also exhumed. All those murdered refused to deny Christ, which would have saved their lives.
