Seven Coptic Christian men have been be kidnapped in a Libyan city under the control of Islamist militias. The Egyptian foreign ministry is closely following the situation of seven other Egyptians who were also reported as kidnapped on Tuesday. Father Estefanos, a priest in Minya church of Anba Karas, confirmed to Ahram Online that seven Egyptian Coptic men, from the upper Egyptian city of Samalut, were kidnapped late Monday from a vehicle near the Libyan city of Sirte. “Gunmen stopped a vehicle that was transporting the seven men who were with other colleagues, but they were the only ones kidnapped,” said Estefanos highlighting that he received the information from the those riding with them. Egypt's foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, commissioned the Egyptian ambassador to Libya to closely follow the situation. Several Coptic Christian Egyptians have been killed in Libya in recent years. In February, the bodies of seven Egyptian Christians who had been shot were found near the second city of Benghazi. The latest incident took place last Friday when armed men abducted a teenage Coptic Christian girl after murdering her parents in Sirte. Sirte, 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of Tripoli, is in the hands of Islamist militias, including Ansar al-Sharia, which the UN Security Council last month added to its terror list for links to Al-Qaeda and for running Islamic State training camps. Thousands of Egyptians work in Libya, a key destination for Egyptian migrant workers primarily in the construction industry. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/119174.aspx
