BENGHAZI // Two Italian construction workers who were kidnapped in Libya last July may have been killed in the North African country during a clash between ISIL militants and local militias fighting them, Italian authorities and Libyan officials said on Thursday.
Photographs of the nine killed in the clash, including the two possible Italians, were posted online after the gunfight, which took place on Wednesday near the Libyan city of Sabratha. Their identity has not yet been confirmed.
However, the families of Fausto Piano and Salvatore Failla have been informed that their loved ones "could" be the two victims, said the Italian foreign ministry, adding that it could not confirm their identities because officials do not have access to the bodies.
The contested western Libyan city of Sabratha has been the scene of heavy clashes recently.
Last month, the US carried out air strikes against an ISIL position there, killing dozens of militants as well as two Serbian hostages.
Later week, a militia loyal to the government in the capital of Tripoli said it arrested the leader of the ISIL branch for Sabratha, after ISIL tried to take over the city, storming its security headquarters and beheading at least 12 militiamen.
On Thursday, the head of the Sabratha Media Centre, Esam Krair, said the local militia fighting ISIL ambushed two cars belonging to the militants in a desert highway, 35 kilometres south of Sabratha, killing all nine people in the vehicles.
The bodies of the two Italians were later found, with weapons in their hands, said Mr Krair.
At first the militiamen thought the two were from Syria because of their fair skin - the others in the convoy were from North African or had sub-Saharan African origins, said Mr Krair.
The four Italians were working for the Italian construction company Bonatti when they were kidnapped on July 19 near an industrial complex owned by the Italian energy giant Eni in the western Libyan city of Mellitah.
Libya slid into chaos following the 2011 toppling and killing of dictator Muammar Qaddafi. Since 2014, its divisions only increased, splitting it into two governments and parliaments - the internationally recognised government based at Tobruk in eastern Libya, and the rival Libya Dawn militia coalition in Tripoli.
Each side is backed by an array of different militias. Amid the chaos, a Libyan affiliate of ISIL has surged, claiming responsibility for a series of deadly attacks as it tries to expand its territory and take control of oil terminals and fields, the sole source of Libya's wealth.
ISIL's presence in Libya has become an increasing source of concern to western governments wary of a repeat of Paris-style attacks on their soil.
The group is estimated to have between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters in the Sirte region, including Tunisian, Sudanese, Yemeni and Nigerian nationals.
Tunisia, which shares a 459km border with Libya, has been on alert since receiving reports that militants had slipped across the border over the past three days in response to a US air strike on an ISIL group training camp in Libya on February 18 that targeted a senior Tunisian commander.
Tunisian prime minister Habib Essid said on Thursday that five militants killed by Tunisian forces a day earlier near the Libyan border had slipped across with the aim of carrying out "terrorist attacks".
Mr Essid paid tribute to the army and national guard units who had eliminated the "terrorist cell sent in from Libya", and said the killing of the militants had "foiled the terrorist operations the cell was planning".
Explosive vests, improvised grenades and a large quantity of munitions were recovered from the slain militants, the interior ministry said. Six foreign passports were also found, it said without elaborating.
Tunisia has built a 200-kilometre barrier that stretches about half the length of its border with Libya in an attempt to prevent militants from infiltrating.
* Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse
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3Novices Europe
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