Libyan authorities searching for abducted Italians, Canadian

When asked about the abduction on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi told reporters “on these things, work, silence, prudence.” He did not elaborate.

Global Affairs Canada spokesman Michael O’Shaughnessy said Monday “we are aware of the troubling yet unconfirmed report of the abduction of a Canadian citizen in Libya. We are diligently pursuing all appropriate channels.”

Hassan Osman Eissa, from the Ghat municipal council, told The Associated Press by phone that the abductors are known to local authorities and have carried out carjackings and robberies in the past. He said local security forces are searching for them and raiding suspected hideouts. He said the abductors left the foreigners’ Libyan driver behind after handcuffing him.

Another official meanwhile said three North Koreans kidnapped by the Islamic State group near Sirte have been freed by Libyan forces battling to drive the extremists from the central city, their last bastion in the North African country.

Muftah Salem, a Health Ministry official in the eastern town of Jalu, told the AP on Tuesday that the North Korean couple and their driver had been heading to Tripoli after finishing a seven-year contract at Jalu’s hospital.

An English-language local news portal, Libyan Observer, posted a video of the doctor. It identified him as a 58-year-old Lee Yong and his wife as Seo Young Ju, 56. She was wearing a headscarf.

Distressed and trying to explain the conditions of his detention in broken Arabic, the doctor said, there was “no light, no sun … I am pale.”

He was freed along with two other foreigners, identified as Indians, and Libyan hostages, according to the Libyan Observer.

Salem said Islamic State militants offered to release them for $30 million ransom but the embassy in Tripoli refused. He said Libyan forces freed them earlier this month.

Rami Musa, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Libyan authorities searching for abducted Italians, Canadian

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