[LIBYA] Plane Shot Down by Rebels in Eastern Libya, F24 06.03.2011


www.france24.com Casualties: Estimates of deaths in the 2011 Libyan uprising have varied from 1000 to 6500 dead. The numbers have been hard to come by since a media clamp-down by the government. However, some conservative estimates have been released. On February 22, the International Coalition Against War Criminals gave an estimate that 519 people had died, 3980 were wounded and over 1500 were missing. Human Rights Watch have estimated that at least 233 people had been killed by February 22. On February 23, Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini stated that according to his information 1000 people had died so far. On February 25, Navi Pillay, the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations, said that reports indicated that “thousands may have been killed or injured”. Among the security forces there had been more than 325 dead, including government loyalists, mercenaries and rebel soldiers. There have been many reports that members of the security forces have been killed by both the government and the opposition. On February 18, two policemen were hanged by protesters in Benghazi. Also, on the same day, 50 African mercenaries, mostly from Chad, were executed by the protesters in al-Baida. Some of them were killed when protestors burned down the police station in which they locked them up and at least 15 were lynched in front of the courthouse in al-Baida. The bodies of some of them were put on display and caught on video. By February 23, the