Egypt investigates killing of 19 Egyptians in Libya

Cairo, July 9 (IANS) The Egyptian Foreign Ministry is following up the issue of the killing of 19 people believed to be Egyptians, found dead in a desert area in Libya, the ministry's spokesman said.

"The Egyptian Embassy in Tripoli, currently operating from Cairo, was informed by its sources at the Libyan Red Crescent that the bodies of about 19 persons were found in the Libyan desert area between Tobruk and Ajdabiya," Foreign Ministry's spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in the statement on Saturday, Xinhua news agency reported.

He added that the identities of only seven of them have been verified, noting they most likely have been killed by smugglers during an illegal immigration attempt.

"The Foreign Ministry is closely following up the issue to identify the rest of the bodies," the spokesman said, adding that measures are being made to transfer the seven identified bodies back home.

Egypt has been working with Libya's neighbouring states to reach a political settlement in the conflict-stricken country, which is currently engaged in a civil war and run by two rival administrations, one in the capital Tripoli and the other in Tobruk city in the east.

Egypt seeks Libya's stability to maintain the Egyptian national security, secure its western borders and uproot cross-border terrorism, according to security experts.

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