Twenty-three Egyptian workers kidnapped in Libya were
freed and returned to their country on Friday, Egyptian state television
reported.
One of
the freed Egyptians told state television they had been kidnapped by people
demanding ransom, in an interview at a border crossing between the neighbouring
North African countries.
State
television reported they were freed by "Libyan special forces in
coordination with the Egyptian general intelligence service".
It
aired footage of the workers arriving at the border crossing, waving Egyptian
flags and prostrating themselves to God in gratitude.
They
were kidnapped near the oil town of Brega and held hostage for 10 days, one of
them said. Thousands
of Egyptians brave the unrest in Libya for employment despite government
warnings to avoid the war-torn country.
In
2015, the Islamic State group's affiliate in Libya announced it had kidnapped
and beheaded 21 Coptic Christians, most of them Egyptian.