13 Egyptian Christians kidnapped in Libya

Egyptians flee the violence in Tripoli, Libya mid last year. An activist has said gunmen stormed a residence for expatriates in Sirte and abducted 13 Coptic Christians in Libya. [PHOTO: REUTERS]

Thirteen Egyptians were kidnapped in the Libyan city of Sirte, adding to seven that went missing last week in the war-torn North African country, Egypt’s state news agency said.

Libya is split between militias loyal to an internationally recognised government, which Egypt supports, and those allied to a rival government based in Tripoli that includes Islamist groups and politicians.

The 13 reported kidnapped on Saturday were Coptic Christians and Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, had met with senior church officials on Saturday amid efforts to solve the crisis, state news agency Mena said.

Air strikes

Magdy Malik, a Christian activist in Egypt, said gunmen stormed a residence for expatriates in Sirte and abducted the thirteen Copts.

Egyptian Copts have been targeted in Libya during the chaos that broke out when militias that fought together to oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi then trained their arms on one another.

Seven Egyptian Christians were found shot execution-style on a beach in eastern Libya last February.

Local reports have said a Coptic doctor and his wife were murdered in their home in early December, with their daughter’s body later found.

A formal diplomatic mission to retrieve the Egyptians would be difficult because much of Libya falls outside of the officially recognised government’s control, an Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman said on Al-Hayat, a state-owned television station.

Meanwhile, supporters of Islamic State (IS), the militant group that has overrun parts of Iraq and Syria, have killed 14 Libyan soldiers in the south of the country, the official government said.

In separate violence, forces loyal to the internationally recognised government staged air strikes on the port of Misrata, a western city allied to a group that holds the capital Tripoli.

Both sides also fought with ground troops near the country’s biggest oil port, part of a struggle between forces loyal to two rival governments allied to former rebel groups that helped oust Gaddafi but now vie for power.

Western powers and Libya’s neighbours fear IS and other radical Islamists are seeking to exploit a power vacuum in the oil-producing nation.

“Members of IS staged an attack... during which they executed 14 members of the Libyan army belonging to the infantry battalion 168,” the government said in a statement, asking the international community to lift an arms embargo to help fight what it called terrorists.

— Reuters