Tunisians seized in Libya in new kidnapping
Unknown kidnappers take eight people working in Tripoli, just days after 10 Tunisian consular staff were kidnapped.
Tunisian state media says eight of its citizens have been kidnapped in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
Tunisian were not immediately available to confirm who had taken those abducted on Sunday, but the incident comes just two days after 10 consular staff were also taken.
“Eight young Tunisians were kidnapped… close to Tripoli,” local lawmaker Hussein Yahyaoui told state Tataouin Radio, the Reuters news agency.
No group has claimed responsibility.
After the earlier round of kidnappings, Al Jazeera’s Nazanine Moshiri said the arrests could be connected to the arrest of a man associated with the armed group that controls Tripoli.
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“Some people are saying that all of this connected to a man named Walid Kalib, a member of Libya Dawn, which took control of Tripoli and forced the government to move to Tobruk in the east,” she said.
“Walid Kalib was arrested here in Tunisia in May, he’s facing charges of kidnapping.
“In May, more than 250 ordinary Tunisian were detained but then released.”
Tunisia is one of the few countries which still has a mission in Tripoli, which is controlled by a government not recognised by the UN.
Libya is in turmoil, with two rival governments and their armed factions battling for control.
Armed groups have kidnapped foreign nationals and diplomats in the past year to try to pressure their governments to release jailed Libyan fighters.
