Two of four Indians held in Libya released

New Delhi: Two of the four Indians abducted in Sirte in Libya have been released, officials said on Friday.

Of the two men released, one belongs to Raichur and the other to Bengaluru, the officials said.

The process for the release of the other two men is on, said sources.

The four, including three working as lecturers, were "detained" in Sirte in Libya, an area where the Islamic State militants hold sway.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the Indian mission in Tripoli came to know at 11 p.m. on July 29 that "the four Indian nationals returning to India via Tripoli and Tunis were detained at a checkpoint, 50 km from Sirte".

According to sources, two of those released are from Raichur in Karnataka and state capital Bengaluru.

The Andhra Pradesh government, meanwhile, urged Swaraj to expedite steps for safe return of all four. The remaining two hostages are from Hyderabad and Srikakulam.

Vikas Swarup, external affairs ministry spokesperson, said earlier in the day that all four were returning to India through Tripoli when they were detained on Wednesday at a checkpoint about 50km from Sirte, hometown of former Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi. Later, they were taken to the Sirte city.

The ministry of external affairs initially learnt of the abduction through the families of those taken hostage, HT has learnt. The four were travelling in taxis when they were stopped at a checkpoint.

“The Indians were told to get off and the drivers were told to leave,” an official told HT. “One of the Indians left his phone behind in the taxi and the drivers were able to inform the family who, in turn, alerted embassy officials.”

The incident came a year after 39 Indians were kidnapped from Iraqi city of Mosul. They still remain in the custody of their captors.

Fear gripped the government as news of the Libya kidnapping trickled in. Most of Sirte fell to the Islamic State in May and the university, where the four were working, is located in the IS stronghold. The university has not been operational since February this year and government officials believe that the four had perhaps stayed on to collect their dues.

There are 2,000 Indians at present in conflict-hit Libya, who stayed back despite many advisories urging them to leave the country.

Since most of the Indian mission staff to Libya is now based out of Tunis, it is proving to be difficult task for officials to track the developments inside the trouble-torn country.

Last July, a group of 65 Indian nurses were trapped in fighting which engulfed parts of Libya.