Foreign ministry working to free six Egyptians detained in Libya

Saturday 09-07-2016 PM 10:33
Foreign ministry working to free six Egyptians detained in Libya

The building of Egypt's Foreign Ministry. ASWATMASRIYA/ Ahmed Hamed

CAIRO, Jul 9 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt’s foreign ministry said it is working to free six Egyptian nationals who were held on their way back from Libya.

The victims, all of whom worked in Tripoli, were detained by local authorities of the city of Bani Walid, according to a statement by foreign ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abo Zeid.

The ministry is currently working on making the necessary arrangements to secure the safe return of the citizens to Egypt, the statement added.

The foreign ministry said on Tuesday that an armed group interjected the path of the six Egyptians and abducted them, before revealing they were held by local authorities on Saturday.

Egypt has renewed its warning against travel to Libyan territories and called for Egyptians living in Libya to exercise extreme caution due to the unstable security conditions.

Egyptians residing in Libya have been caught up in the country’s internal conflict, which has proliferated over the past few years.

On Jun. 20, seven Egyptian nationals were detained in the city of Misrata in Libya. The detained Egyptians were on their way back to Egypt when they were stopped in Misrata.

 

In April, 13 Egyptian illegal immigrants were killed in the Libyan city of Bani Walid. They were killed amid clashes with members of smuggling gangs in Libya.

Egypt received 20 Egyptian nationals who were held captive by Libyan militia groups earlier this year.

In Feb. 2015, Islamic State fighters in Libya abducted and beheaded 20 Egyptian nationals in the city of Sirte, releasing a video of the beheading afterwards.

In response, Egypt launched airstrikes in Libya in the same week of the video's release. The Egyptian military said in a statement the strikes targeted training sites and weapons and ammunition storage sites belonging to ISIS fighters in the country.

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