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2 of 4 Indians Detained in Islamic State-Controlled Territory Released


www.mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, July 31, 2015: Two of the four Indians detained in an Islamic State-controlled area in Libya have been released, the foreign ministry said on Friday.

Libiya Hijack"Four Indians abducted in Libya - I am happy we have been able to secure the release of Lakshmikant and Vijay Kumar. Trying for other two," Sushma Swaraj tweeted this evening.

The men, who have been in Libya for more than a year and were working at Sirte University, were detained at a checkpoint about 50 km outside Sirte town late on Wednesday while on their way back to India.

The official did not comment on what group or individuals the government believed were behind the detention of the men.

Two of the men are from Hyderabad and two from Raichur and Bengaluru in Karnataka.

The wife of one of the men still detained, Gopikrishna, said she had spoken to him last on Wednesday. "He said he was coming back via Tunisia. As he didn’t have a visa, he took a permission letter," said Kalyani.

Various militias and Islamist factions have been battling in Libya since former strongman Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in 2011.

The area where the men were detained is controlled by the Islamic State, which has seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria and has declared itself a caliphate.

The Indian government had in July last year issued an advisory asking its citizens to leave Libya. The fact that the Indians who have been kidnapped started working in the country a year ago suggested that they had ignored the warning, said officials.

The latest incident comes as 39 Indian construction workers remain missing in Iraq. They were taken hostage last year at the height of the fighting between Sunni militants and government forces.


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