(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - "About 50,000 people were killed since the start of the uprising," said Colonel Hisham Buhagiar, the commander who led the assault to liberate the capital Tripoli a week ago.
"In Misratah and Zlitan between 15,000 and 17,000 were killed and Jebel Nafusa (the Western Mountains) took a lot of casualties. We liberated about 28,000 prisoners. We presume that all those missing are dead," Buhagiar said.
The commander added that many people lost their lives during the repeated give and take of control over the eastern towns of Ajdabiyah and Brega.
The figures also include those who went missing during the revolution, Buhagiar said.
The death toll comes amid horrific tales of atrocities by loyalists of the country's fugitive ruler Muammar Gaddafi during the past week.
At least 200 decomposed bodies of men, women and children were found in Abu Salim hospital on Saturday. The people, some still alive when admitted to the hospital, were abandoned by doctors and nurses amid intensified fighting.
Amnesty International reported that it had received evidence showing that dozens of detainees were killed by Gaddafi loyalists in two military camps on August 23 and 24.
Charred skeletons of about 50 people were found Saturday in a makeshift prison next to a military base in Salaheddin, a suburb located five kilometers south of Tripoli, after the facility fell to the fighters' control.
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