Five Egyptian troops held hostage in Libya
Khartoum. Five Egyptian troops held hostage in Libya were freed Monday in a joint operation carried out by Sudanese and Egyptian intelligence services, security officers from the two countries said.
The soldiers had been seized along the Egyptian-Libyan border and held captive in southern Libya, a Sudanese security officer said, while the Egyptian military said they were part of a patrol that had gone missing.
“Five Egyptian soldiers who were abducted along the Libyan-Egyptian border and held hostage by outlaws have been freed today,” said Brigadier Mohamed Hamid from Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS). “The rescue operation was carried out in coordination with NISS, Sudanese military intelligence and the Egyptian intelligence service.”
The troops had been taken to southern Libya from where they were rescued on Monday, Hamid told reporters at Khartoum airport after the soldiers were brought to Sudan. He did not say when the soldiers had been seized. “They have been handed over to Egyptian intelligence now,” Hamid said, adding that the entire operation took several days to be executed.
The Egyptian military confirmed the release of its soldiers. “The Egyptian armed forces extend their gratitude and appreciation to the Sudanese armed forces and security apparatuses in cooperating with them for the return of the missing patrol,” Egyptian military spokesman Colonel Tamer Refaie told AFP in Cairo. (AFP)
