HRW: Unsecured Heavy Weapons Strewn Around Libya

Human Rights Watch claims that large numbers of weapons, including surface-to-air missiles that could down commercial airliners, are still strewn around unguarded in Libya.

The New York-based group said on October 25 that it had seen two sites near Sirte containing surface-to-air missiles, tank and mortar rounds, munitions and thousands of guided and unguided aerial weapons.

Peter Bouckaert, the group's emergencies director, said in a statement that Human Rights Watch had been warning the leaders of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) and its NATO supporters for months about stockpiles of unsecured weapons that had been regularly raided.

The NTC has publicly committed itself to securing stray stocks of Muammar Qaddafi's arsenal.

Reuters