Six abductees from Wadi al-Buwnis area, southern Libya, have been released after a LYD 150,000 ransom was paid to the kidnappers, Wadi al-Buwnis Municipality declared.
The six people were abducted on 30 December and tortured for 13 days.
They were crossing the main road between al-Jufra District and Wadi al-Buwnis when an armed gang apprehended them.
The kidnappers, claimed to be affiliated with the Chadian opposition, stopped the Libyan citizens at the crossroads and abducted them, according to one of the witnesses who informed the Libyan Police later.
After informing the authorities, Libya’s forces headed to the abduction location where they found two cars that seemed to belong to the Libyan citizens. The vehicles were shot, according to the police statement, as the bullets dealt serious damage to the cars’ tires.
The lack of the security in southern Libya and neglect by the two major power rival factions on the ground since 2014; one led by Khalifa Haftar in eastern Libya and the other by Faiez Sarraj in Tripoli, have left southern Libya vulnerable at the kidnapping carried out by militias from neighboring Sub-Saharan African states and the Islamic State (IS).
IS attacked on 23 November a security directorate in the southeastern Libyan town Tazirbu, killing nine security service members, injuring 10 and kidnapping a number of residents.
On 9 August, a teenager called Ahmed Milad Yousif al-Majiri was kidnapped on the Jufra-Buwanis road. By October 2018, the estimated number of civilian abductees by foreign armed militias increased to over 34. Over half have been released for a minimum ransom of LYD 120,000.
