Two weeks after the Islamic State group (IS) attacked Al-Fuqaha town in central Libya and abducted several young men, IS offered to free the hostages in exchange for freeing some of its own men jailed by the Libyan National Army (LNA), sources told 218 Saturday.
The sources added that al-Fuqaha leaders will head to Benghazi on Friday to meet General Commander of Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar to discuss the possibility to exchange IS prisoners at the army with the town’s abducted men.
An IS member called Head of al-Fuqaha’s municipal branch Hamad al-Hassi to propose the exchange.
On Oct. 29, Suspected IS militants attacked al-Fuqaha town in central Libya, killing four people, kidnapping others and torching a police station.
Local sources said the area in Jufra District has been controlled by the militants in the aftermath, adding that around 20 young men, including policemen, were kidnapped.
The attack on al-Fuqaha, south of the former IS bastion of Sirte on the Mediterranean coast, began at 1 a.m.
The militants reportedly led the young men to a rural road, and some heard sounds of gunfire at nearby farms. It has not been made clear whether these men were killed or the militants were celebrating their control over the area.
The attack came after a statement issued by the Presidency Council called for an end to the lack of security in the area and to take some measures to improve the situation.
“Currently, four people from the al-Fuqaha have died as a result of the attack. Among them is the son of the chairman of the local council in Jufra district,” the Municipal Council of Jufra District wrote on Facebook.
The council said the situation in the area is “disastrous” as fierce clashes erupted against IS, calling upon all parties for rapid intervention to “save the area.”
Since Muammar Gaddafi’s fall in 2011, some areas of the war-torn country have been controlled by IS militants, particularly Sirte, the very hometown of Gaddafi.
