Accessibility links

Breaking News

Sudanese Children of IS Militants Released in Libya


A Sudanese official holds a child of Sudanese Islamic State members who operated in Libya, after Libyan Red Crescent handed them over, in Misrata, Libya August 20, 2017.
A Sudanese official holds a child of Sudanese Islamic State members who operated in Libya, after Libyan Red Crescent handed them over, in Misrata, Libya August 20, 2017.

Four children from Sudan whose parents are believed to have been killed fighting for Islamic State in the Libyan city of Sirte last year were handed over to the Sudanese consul on Sunday for return to their country.

Sirte was a stronghold for Islamic State from 2015-2016, when Libyan forces backed by U.S. air strikes ousted the ultra-hardline group. Hundreds of foreign militants joined Islamic State in Sirte.

Dozens of women and children detained towards the end of the fighting have been held in Misrata, the city from which the military campaign in Sirte was led.

They include nationals of Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Senegal, Chad, and Niger. Twenty-one Libyan children have been handed back to their families.

In June, eight children were handed over to the Sudanese authorities and returned to Sudan. Eleven other Sudanese women and children are still in Misrata.

The Red Crescent's head of psychological support in Misrata, Salah Abuzreba, appealed to all countries "that haven't responded until this moment to receive those children as a human act, so they can be returned to their relatives".

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG