Bodies of 16 migrants have been found in the desert near Libya's border with Egypt, according to Reuters.
According to the report, the corpses were found by Libyan troops affiliated with the now retired General Khalifa Haftar. Spokesperson for the Haftar forces in eastern Libya, Ahmed Al-Mismari claimed that they found the bodies nearly 310 kilometres away from the coastal town of Tobruk in southwest Libya.
Al-Mismari assured that further searches in the region are underway but the identity of the migrants is yet to be determined. This is not the first instance where bodies of migrant workers have been discovered in the Libyan Desert.
Previously, patrol cars and rescue workers have come across bodies of Egyptian migrant workers who died of starvation after being stranded or abandoned by Libyan human traffickers.
Migrants looking for work often try to reach the EU countries via boat through Libya. General Haftar demanded an astonishing $20 billion from the European Union to combat illegal immigration into Europe from Africa.
Algeria tightens security across Libyan border
The Algerian government has sent 3000 of its soldiers to reinforce the country's border with Libya.
According to Quds Press, senior officials of the Algerian People's National Armed Forces have also agreed to deploy advanced electronic monitoring equipment to keep track of terrorists attempting to cross the border.
The Algeria-Libya border is thousands of kilometres long and is rife with smuggling and illegal immigration. As per Al-Bilad, a military newspaper in Algeria, the government wants to intensify security along the border region to tackle those issues. Surveillance planes are also expected to fly over the desert near the border.
Terror warning issued
This major upgrade of security comes on the back of a warning from the West which suggested that eleven African countries, including Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, are in danger of being targeted for terror attacks by groups linked to the so called Islamic State's Libyan faction or the Al-Qaeda's northern Mali branch.
Libya plummeted into civil war in 2011 following the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi. The country now hosts three governments in conflict with each other - the Libyan National Unity government, the internationally recognised Government of National Accord and the Interim Government in the east. Hopes for peace among the three factions appear slim at the moment.
