Coptic Christians kidnapped in Sirte
January 3, 2015
Details of the apparent abductions remained sketchy on Saturday, with news agencies citing government sources and witnesses.
The Agence France Presse cited an unnamed source close to the Libyan government who said that members of the Ansar al-Shariah militia had kidnapped 13 Coptic Christians in the coastal city of Sirte on Saturday. The source also said seven others had been taken in recent days.
Witness account
The Associated Press, meanwhile, quoted a source who claimed to have witnessed the kidnappings in an apartment block in Sirte and said the Christians appeared to have been abducted because of their religion.
"They were 15 armed and masked men who came in four vehicles. They had a list of full names of Christians in the building," the witness, named as Hanna Aziz, said. "While checking IDs, Muslims were left aside while Christians were grabbed," he added, saying that he escaped abduction by not opening his door.
The news agency also cited a Coptic priest in the southern Egypt town where the kidnapped Christians came from, who also said that seven others had been abducted a few days ago.
This comes a week after an Egyptian Coptic Christian couple and their daughter were found dead in Sirte.
Warning from Cairo
The foreign ministry in Cairo has issued a statement urging Egyptians in Sirte to stay indoors until it can arrange safe passage out of the country for them. Egypt closed down its diplomatic mission in the capital, Tripoli last year after its ambassador to Libya was abducted by militiamen.
Ansar al-Shariah is the same militia blamed for the September 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed US Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Much of Libya has been essentially lawless since the 2011 ouster of longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi. Islamist militias seized Tripoli last summer, forcing the internationally recognized government to move to Tobruk, while a rebel government operates in the capital.
pfd/nm (dpa, AFP, AP)