Fourteen Tunisian workers who had been abducted in Zawya, northwestern Libya, were freed late Sunday, the Tunisian Foreign Ministry announced.
“On Sunday, the Libyan authorities freed the 14 Tunisian workers who were abducted on Thursday by armed groups in Zawya in demand of the release of a Libyan prisoner in Tunisia,” said the Foreign Ministry’s statement.
Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) said on Thursday the workers were taken hostages while travelling to Zawya.
On Saturday, the GNA’s Interior Ministry said it set up an emergency team in Zawya to take “the required measures and make contacts to guarantee the safety of the Tunisian workers and ensure their release without conditions.”
Libya has been mired in chaos since the fall of dictator Muammar Qaddafi in the 2011 uprising.
Abduction is a regular tactic used “to free Libyans detained in Tunisia,” Human rights activist Mustapha Abdelkebir, who is based in southern Tunisia near the Libyan border said in a Friday statement.
