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Sisi receives 20 Egyptians after released from captivity in Libya

Xinhua, January 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

Twenty Egyptians held captive by Libyan militia groups were released and received by Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi at the Cairo international airport, state-run Ahram online reported on Tuesday.

"We won't leave any Egyptians in danger in Libya or anywhere else," Sisi told journalists at the airport.

Sisi said that in cooperation with the Libyan army, the held Egyptians were released, according to Ahram.

The Egyptians, who came from the same village in the governorate of Minya in Upper Egypt, were abducted in the city of Al-Jufrah, 750 km from Libya's capital Tripoli, earlier January.

Libya has witnessed a drastic escalation of violence after the 2011 turmoil which toppled Muammar Gaddafi.

Despite the Egyptian government travel warnings, the turmoil-stricken Arab country is an ideal destination for thousands of Egyptian workers, many of whom are hired in the construction sector.

In 2015, the Islamic State (IS) militant group beheaded 20 Egyptian Christians and one Ethiopian Christian near the Libyan city of Sirte. Endit