Two Italian hostages freed in Libya

Two Italian nationals kidnapped last July in Libya have been freed, the Italian foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Gino Pollicardo, 55, and Filippo Calcagno, 65, were kidnapped in the western port of Mellitah, near the industrial complex owned by Italy's energy giant ENI, together with two Italian colleagues.

All four were technicians working for the Bonatti construction company.

"The foreign ministry confirms that Filippo Calcagno and Gino Pollicardo ... are in good health, and in the custody of the Sabratha military council," the statement read.

The relatives of Pollicardo and Calcagno confirmed the two men had been freed, Italian media said.

A video showing the two bearded men posted by ANSA news agency showed Gino Pollicardo speaking to the camera, saying: "We are in a safe place, in a police office, and we are fine. We hope to urgently return in Italy, because we need to see our families again," Pollicardo added, with his arm around Calcagno's shoulders.

Meanwhile, the two other Italian hostages, Salvatore Failla and Fausto Piano, died on Wednesday, having probably been killed during a shootout near Sabratha, Italy's foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Libyan security forces and militants of the so-called Islamic State (IS) clashed in the city of Sabratha on Wednesday, and the two men might have been killed during a shootout, Italian media alleged, citing security officials.

The four Bonatti employees were thought to have been kidnapped by Libyan criminals for ransom, and then passed on to an IS-affiliated group.

The U.S. airstrikes on suspected IS militants in Sabratha in late February would have complicated the situation on the ground, and made the work of Italian mediators and intelligence harder, ANSA news agency reported.

"The scenario changed (with the airstrikes), and militias tried to regain positions on the ground," the chairman of Italy's parliamentary committee on intelligence (Copasir) Giacomo Stucchi said in a hearing on Thursday, according to ANSA.

"In between were the Italian hostages: all four of them still together at the time, according to our intelligence."

As the situation became more tense, a transfer or "theft" of the hostages might have taken place; otherwise, an attempt by kidnappers to move them in a safer place was also a possibility, according to the official.

"The firefight occurred yesterday (Wednesday), the dynamic of which is still unclear, was then fatal to the two Italians, as they were traveling with a convoy that came under attack by militiamen," Stucchi added.

Another Italian technician working in Libya, Marco Vallisa, was kidnapped in July 2014, and later freed in November 2014. Endit