By Maha Suliman.
Benghazi, 15 November 2014:
Nine Turkish restaurant workers held by the Libyan National Army (LNA) in Benghazi . . .[restrict]have been released to the civil authorities and are to return to Turkey.
The nine Turkish men were captured in Benghazi during fighting in Tabalino. They were believed to be fighting alongside Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council (RRSC) but in questioning this was found to be false.
The prisoners were handed over to the Minister of Justice and other government officials in Beida in a televised exchange yesterday.
The LNA said that it would capture any Turkish citizen in the east of the country but then retracted the statement. Turkey, along with Qatar, is viewed by pro-government forces as one of the main backers of Islamist and Islamist-leaning forces ranged against them.
The Turkish workers, it has emerged, had been left by their employer without any financial assistance, forcing them to remain in Benghazi.
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