Libya hedges mass grave claimBy the CNN Wire Staff
September 26, 2011 -- Updated 2306 GMT (0706 HKT)
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Libya's transitional government has hedged its claims that a mass grave had been found behind a notorious prison, telling reporters Monday that some bones found there were too large to be from humans.
"Some investigations have been conducted on this mass grave specifically, and there has been no conclusion yet," said Jamal Ben Noor, a senior official with the Justice and Human Rights Ministry. Ben Noor said the site reported behind Abu Salim prison in Tripoli "could be something else," because the bones found here are bigger than normal human remains.
Officials with the National Transitional Council, the movement that ousted longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in August, said Sunday that it was investigating whether a mass grave had been found behind Abu Salim. Human rights groups say Gadhafi's government put down a 1996 uprising at the cost of hundreds of lives -- a toll the regime never acknowledged -- and the NTC said Sunday the grave may hold as many as 1,270 bodies.
But a CNN team that was brought to the muddy field with other news outlets found only what appeared to be animal bones. The NTC has called on international governments to help it investigate the site, which was discovered by revolutionary forces on August 20, said Kamal el Sherif, a member of the transitional government.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/25/world/africa/libya-mass-grave/ 
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