CAIRO — A leading human rights group says six medial workers who were abducted earlier this month in western Libya have been released.
Human Rights Watch said Thursday that four physicians, a nurse, and a technician were released the previous day. They were in captivity for 12 days after four armed men stopped their humanitarian convoy in the western city of Zintan.
A statement from HRW quotes their family members as saying the kidnappers apparently sought to use the six as bargaining chips to secure the release of an imprisoned man.
Abductions are common in Libya, which has been engulfed in chaos for years. Fighting over the capital, Tripoli has raged since April between forces loyal to the UN-backed government and the self-styled Libyan National Army trying to take the city.