A diplomatic source and Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Accord said 14 workers had been taken hostage. “The foreign ministry is following the case of the Tunisian citizens… kidnapped by armed Libyan elements near Zawiya”, Tunisia’s foreign ministry said on its Facebook page. Rights activist Mustapha Abdelkebir said the armed group behind Thursday’s kidnapping was demanding the release of one of its members held in Tunisia. Activist Abdelkebir, who is based in southern Tunisia near the Libyan border, said the Tunisian workers were being held in a district of Zawiya. Tunisia reopened a consulate in Libya in 2018, after shutting it three years earlier following the kidnapping of 10 Tunisian diplomats.

Source: The Guardian February 16, 2019 13:52 UTC