Gaddafi gunmen cross border from Algeria to Libya

Gunmen loyal to Moammar Gaddafi have crossed the Libyan border from Algeria and attacked National Transitional Council (NTC) forces in a town near the frontier, killing six people, officials said Sunday.The cross-border attack on Saturday shows loyalist forces have managed to escape Libya and regroup and collect arms, bolstering fears the North African nation could face a protracted insurgency.Fighters who took up arms against Gaddafi have seized Tripoli and have gained control of the rest of the country, but they are still battling forces loyal to the ousted regime on several fronts.Libya officials also announced on Sunday the discovery of a mass grave believed to hold the remains of 1,270 inmates killed by Gaddafis regime in a 1996 prison massacre. The site a desert field scattered with bone fragments was found outside the walls of Tripolis Abu Salim prison, where the victims were killed on June 26, 1996, after protesting conditions at the facility. A demonstration by women demanding justice for the victims of that prison massacre was one of the things that touched off the uprising against Gaddafi in February.A Tripoli military spokesman, Khalid al-Sharif, said authorities found the site after getting information from witnesses and former security guards who had been captured after the capital fell. Officials will ask for international assistance in excavating and identifying the remains because the Libyans dont have sufficient expertise and equipment to test the DNA, he said.Libyans are eager for those who committed crimes under the old regime to face justice and have been moving forward with efforts to account for the past even as fighting continues in parts of the country.