Dozens of migrants were deported from Libya’s Tripoli, the anti-illegal immigration department said.
The department said 53 migrants from Niger and 24 others from Bangladesh returned home voluntarily in coordination with the international organization for migration (IOM).
The department last week deported 110 others back to Guinea, and 135 Nigerian migrants were deported on July 17. All the migrants returned home voluntarily with the help of IOM, the department confirmed. The uprising of 2011 in Libya caused chaos and security, with massive flows of migrants using the country as a transfer station to Europe.
The IOM said thousands of migrants have reached European shores in 2017 so far, while many others have drowned on the way. Migrants who were rescued offshore by Libyan coastguards are detained in reception centers with poor conditions.
Meanwhile, a man and his 10-year-old son were wounded by a landmine in Sabri area in central Libya’s Benghazi, local media reported.
The 45-year-old man and his son, who were injured by fragments of a landmine that exploded, are currently “in a stable condition,” said the city’s hospital.
Local media quoted the hospital as saying that the toll of landmine victims “is rising.” Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city and the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, has been witnessing a violent war between the armed forces led by Khalifa Haftar and extremist armed groups for more than three years.
Haftar’s forces are controlling most of Benghazi. However, the remaining militants, who depend heavily on landmines, are still stationed in a small area in central Benghazi.
Separately, a Libyan charity ophthalmologist was kidnapped by an unknown group on Tuesday in Tripoli, local media reported. Miloud Araoud was taken from his house by unidentified gunmen to an unknown location. No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
Many similar kidnappings take place in Libya where gangs abduct victims and demand their families to pay ransom for their release. Araoud is a charity ophthalmologist who travels around the country to treat patients free of charge.
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