Four Indians abducted in Libya

Four Indian men, including three who were working as lecturers, have been kidnapped in Sirte in Libya. The Indian government is working for their early release, the ministry of external affairs said on Friday.

Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the Indian mission in Tripoli came to know at 11 p.m. on Thursday night "that four Indian nationals who were returning to India via Tripoli and Tunis were detained at a check point, 50 km from Sirte".

In a statement, he said two of them are from Hyderabad and one from Raichur and one from Bengaluru. All of them are men.

Three were faculty members at the University of Sirte and one was working at the Sirte University branch at Jufra, he said.

Swarup said the ministry, through its head of mission in Tripoli, is ascertaining the details about the incident.

"According to information available through our sources, all four Indians have been brought back to the city of Sirte."

"We are in regular touch with the families concerned and all efforts are being made to ensure the well being and early release of the four Indian nationals," he said.

No ransom demand has been made as yet, sources said.

The Islamic State is suspected to have carried out the kidnapping.

The kidnapping comes even as the fate of 39 Indians kidnapped in June 2014 from Mosul in Iraq remains unknown. The 39 were kidnapped by the Islamic State militants. The government maintains the men, all labourers from mostly Punjab, are still alive.

The Indian government had last year issued an advisory asking its citizens to leave Libya.