Rights Group: Probe Libya Killings

CAIRO (AP) -- Human Rights Watch is urging a powerful general in eastern Libya to investigate allegations his forces committed war crimes such as killing prisoners and desecrating bodies.

In a statement Wednesday, the rights group says relatives, activists, and local journalists described such acts by troops under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter in the eastern city of Benghazi on and around March 18.

It urged Hifter to "respond urgently to these deeply disturbing allegations by investigating the suspected perpetrators, including senior military commanders who may bear individual responsibility."

Hifter's forces last week retook two key oil terminals that had been seized by militias loyal to a rival government in Libya's west.

(KA)