Egypt withdraws embassy staffers from Libya

Egypt withdrew its embassy personnel from Tripoli today, a spokesman for Libya's Foreign Ministry said, after gunmen abducted five of them overnight apparently in retaliation for the arrest of a Libyan militia leader in Egypt.

Egypt had earlier reported that its administrative attache had been kidnapped in the Libyan capital late yesterday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Asswad said four other Egyptian diplomats were snatched in the early hours of today. Those kidnapped included the cultural attache, he added.

The abductions came hours after Libya's state news agency reported that Egyptian authorities had arrested Shaaban Hadiya, the commander of the Revolutionaries Operation Room militia. The Libyan government blamed the group for the abduction of Prime Minister Ali Zidan last year. It claims to answer to the army but is widely seen as operating independently.