US air strike on Libya kills 2 abducted Serbians – minister

BELGRADE, Serbia – A US strike on an Islamic State jihadist camp in Libya killed two Serbian embassy employees who were kidnapped in the area in November, Serbia’s foreign minister said on Saturday, February 20.

“Unfortunately, as a consequence of this attack on the Islamic State (ISIS) in Libya, the two of them lost their lives,” Ivica Dacic told reporters, referring to Friday’s air strike.

Embassy communications chief Sladjana Stankovic and her driver Jovica Stepic were kidnapped on November 8 in the coastal city of Sabratha, 70 kilometers (42 miles) west of Tripoli, from a convoy of cars heading to the Tunisian border.

The US strike, which targeted a jihadist training camp near Sabratha, killed dozens of people, probably including Noureddine Chouchane, a senior ISIS group operative behind attacks in Tunisia, US officials said Friday.

It was the second US air raid in the violence-wracked North African country targeting the fast-expanding jihadist group in the past 3 months.

Belgrade maintains an embassy in Tripoli, and Serbian citizens, mostly doctors and other medical staff as well as construction workers, have been working in Libya for decades due to close bilateral relations during Kadhafi’s regime. – Rappler.com