One hundred Egyptian drivers on board 50 trucks have been held hostage in Libya's Ajdabiy since Wednesday morning, according to Gamal Awn, chief of the Libyan drivers association.
Awn said that armed assailants held the drivers captive and ordered them to contact tribal leaders in the Egyptian province of Matrouh to negotiate their release in exchange of a Libyan who was sentenced to life in an Egyptian prison in a smuggling case.
Several Egyptians have either been killed or briefly taken hostage since the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Qadhafi, which created a security vacuum that expanded the influence of militant groups.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
