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Identity of two Serbs killed in Libya officially confirmed: PM

Xinhua, February 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Identity of two employees of the Serbian embassy killed in recent U.S. airstrike in Libya has been officially confirmed, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Saturday in Belgrade.

Speaking at a press conference, Vucic said that identity of Sladjana Stankovic and Jovica Stepic killed in Sabartha, 80 km west from Tripoli during the U.S. bombing of an alleged Islamic State (IS) training camp was confirmed by Libyan authorities.

"In conflicts between other countries and their interests, Serbs were killed as a collateral damage," he said, adding that Serbia "received informal answer from CIA that they had no knowledge of foreigners being kept in the targeted building", but Serbia is still waiting for the official response.

"According to the photos and gathered analysis, people were killed by explosions during an airstrike. Those are evidently US bombs. U.S. bombarded positions of the IS and Islamic fundamentalists close to them," Vucic said, confirming the identity of two killed embassy employees.

He announced that the incident will not influence relations with the United States because their deterioration would not bring Stankovic and Stepic back to life, while "Serbia needs United States as a partner and friend and not as an enemy."

Vucic explained that Serbia never received official demand for ransom from the kidnappers and that authorities were contacted only by mediators asking for amounts ranging from 16 to 60 million euros without offering any guarantee that the hostages will be released.

He said that this was the first major hostage crisis that Serbia faced with, and its intelligence service acted professionally and that "Serbian citizens would have been rescued if they weren't killed in the U.S. bombing."

Vucic announced that he will propose the closure of the Serbian embassy in Tripoli, while 250 Serbian citizens that are now staying in Libya are already advised to leave the country.

Bodies of Stankovic and Stepic will be transported to Serbia on Monday. Enditem