Credit: Unknown authorCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenBeach near Al Mahary Hotel, Sirte, Libya · 2015
In February 2015, the Islamic State released a video showing the beheading of 21 Christian construction workers—20 Egyptians and one Ghanaian—who had been kidnapped in Sirte, Libya. The men were killed on a beach for their Christian faith, prompting international condemnation and Egyptian airstrikes on IS targets in Libya.
SOLVEDListenBenghazi, Cyrenaica, Libya · 1929
Between 1929 and 1934, Italian colonial authorities under Benito Mussolini killed an estimated 20,000 to 100,000 Libyans and interned nearly half the population of Cyrenaica in concentration camps as part of the suppression of Senussi resistance during the Second Italo-Senussi War.
Credit: Arcangelo GhisleriPublic domainSourceSOLVEDListenShar al-Shatt, Tripoli, Libya · 1911
On 23 October 1911, during the Italo-Turkish War, Ottoman forces and local Arab militias attacked Italian defensive positions at the oasis village of Shar al-Shatt near Tripoli, Libya, killing 503 Italian soldiers, including 290 Bersaglieri who had surrendered and were subsequently tortured and killed in a local cemetery.
UNSOLVEDListenLibya (eastern coastal region and southern desert; mass grave later found in Sirte) · 2015
On 19 April 2015, the Islamic State's Libyan branch released a video showing the beheading and shooting of around 30 Christian migrant workers, mostly Ethiopian and Eritrean nationals, held in two separate groups in eastern and southern Libya.
UNSOLVEDListenal-Jahfal police training camp, Zliten, Libya · 2016
On 7 January 2016, Islamist militants detonated a truck bomb at the al-Jahfal police training camp in Zliten, Libya, killing at least 60 policemen and wounding over 200 in the deadliest militant attack since the 2011 Libyan revolution.
The files run from 1911 to 2016. The 2010s hold the most, with 4 files. The oldest is Battle and massacre at Shar al-Shatt, from 1911.
By type, the largest groups are murder and homicide cases (1) and kidnapping and abduction cases (1).
1 file of the 6 has coverage attached: 1 video, podcast or documentary from 1 creator.
Every file is written from cited sources and pinned where it happened, and every person named carries the legal status the record gives them. If you hold information about an unsolved case, contact the investigating agency named in its file rather than posting it publicly. Families and anyone involved can request a correction from any file.
This page updates from the published files, so counts and statuses change the day a record does. Open any file for its timeline, its sources and the coverage worth your time, or play it as a narrated case file.
Muammar al-Gaddafi at the AU summit — Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jesse B. Awalt/ReleasedPublic domainSource
21 Matyrs of Libya Relic — Credit: Unknown authorCC BY-SA 4.0Source
Administrative subdivision of Italian Libya — Credit: Arcangelo GhisleriPublic domainSource6. By status: 3 unsolved and 3 solved. The count covers published files only and changes as new files clear review.
Battle and massacre at Shar al-Shatt, from 1911. Open the file
60 Minutes Australia (1 case).
It rebuilds hourly from the published files; the newest file change here is dated Jul 14, 2026. A status changes only when the record behind it does.
