Reports: Over 1,000 Dead in Libya Crackdown

Govt Insists 'Only 300' Slain in Massacres

An Italy-based NGO has reported that the situation in Libya, just across the Mediterranean Sea, is getting enormously grim according to witnesses, and that the death toll from the regime’s massacres have surpassed 1,000.

The group, Arab World Communities in Italy, also reported that the hospitals in Libya’s major cities have been completely overwhelmed by the attacks by the regime. Defectors have reported that the military is bombing protesters in the major cities.

The government, which has been interspercing denials of massacres with claims that anyone resists will be killed, insisted that the death toll was “only” 300 protesters, which may be the first time a government claimed to have “only” massacred 300 of its own people.

Currently the Libyan regime has lost control of virtually the entire country, and is only barely hanging on in Tripoli. Many of their top officials have resigned, and despite claims by President Gadhafi to the contrary it is virtually impossible to believe they will retain power much longer.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.