Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said last night that members of a human trafficking ring had shot dead at least 26 Bangladeshis in a Libyan city. Eleven more people were seriously injured in the incident.
“Our embassy in Tripoli has confirmed that 26 Bangladeshis have been shot dead in Libya and 11 other seriously injured Bangladeshis were being treated in hospital”, ” He added.
He said the killings took place in the town of Mezdah, about 180 kilometers southwest of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. There, 38 Bangladeshi nationals were held hostage in a secret place. When they were killed, only one of them escaped.
A message from the Bangladesh Embassy in Tripoli to the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare said the survivor informed the Bangladesh Mission in Libya about the killings. Momen said the man who survived told embassy officials that the human trafficking ring was torturing Bangladeshi nationals for more money.
The survivors said they were tortured for ransom. At one point, the Victims became impatient and killed one of the main Libyan kidnappers. As a result, other miscreants suddenly fired at them indiscriminately.
The bodies are currently being treated at a hospital in Mezdah, the message said. Injured Bangladeshis are also being treated there.
