23 Egyptians kidnapped in Libya freed

Cairo: 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.

mon/se/ah