In the wake of Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi's death, US lawmakers are redoubling their calls for the repatriation of the remains of 13 sailors buried near Tripoli where they were killed in 1804.

Senators introduced legislation on Tuesday calling for US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to have the remains exhumed, identified, and buried in a military cemetery in the United States.

Any unidentified remains would be buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington.

The sailors were killed during what Americans know as the First Barbary War when the USS Intrepid exploded in Tripoli harbor.

The legislation, a version of which cleared the US House of Representatives earlier this year, would cover five US sailors buried in a mass grave in Tripoli's Protestant Cemetery, and another eight buried in a mass grave near the walls of Tripoli Castle.