Libyan Airways in Benghazi announced that an armed group kidnapped one of its pilots from his residence in Tripoli on Monday evening.
In a statement, Libyan Airlines said an unknown armed group broke into the hotel room of Captain Nawras Al-Atrash, originally from Benghazi, and took him to an unknown destination. It added that the pilot was kidnapped from an area, which “Tripoli officials claim to be free from terrorism and militias.”
The airlines called on the national army, members of Parliament and the board of directors of the Libyan-African Holding Company for Air Transport, to act fast to secure the pilot’s release.
The Libyan Airlines Board of Directors also urged all pilots working in the city of Tripoli “to be cautious until they return safely to their families.”
Libyan Airways said it valued “all the sacrifices of the National Army” and was seeking to serve “its battle to cleanse the capital of terrorists and spoilers.” But on the back of internal divisions, the company found that there were “premeditated circumstances that stood in the way of the company’s business.”
As fighting continues between the National Army and forces loyal to the government of Fayez Al-Sarraj, observers fear that kidnappings and assassinations on basis of identity may increase in the capital in the coming days against citizens of eastern Libya.