Libya frees nine Turks detained by army

Benghazi, 15 November 2014 (MIA) - Libya on Friday released nine Turks who had been captured by the army and handed them over to representatives from Ankara, a government statement said.

The men had been captured by troops in the embattled eastern city of Benghazi, where former general Khalifa Haftar has launched an offensive against Islamist militants, AFP reported.

A statement from the internationally recognised government said the men were freed in response to a request by the UN mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

The were handed over to Turkey in an operation monitored by UNSMIL chief Bernardino Leon, the statement said.

In June, more than 400 Turks were evacuated from Libya following threats by Haftar, who accuses Ankara of backing his Islamist opponents.

Most of those evacuated had been working at a power station in the city of Sirte, home town of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

A spokesman for Haftar, Mohamed Hijazi, said "the army released the Turkish nationals after making sure that they were not involved" in fighting that has rocked Benghazi almost daily since May.

Haftar launched an initial offensive against Islamists in Libya's second city in May with no government support, but in October, with Islamist militia influence growing, he launched a new campaign, this time backed by government troops.

Three years after Kadhafi was toppled and killed in a NATO-backed revolt, Libya is awash with weapons and powerful militias, and run by rival governments and parliaments.

Also on Friday, Libya's rival government said it had seized an Airbus A300 at an airport in the oasis town of Ghadames, southwest of Tripoli, because it was carrying "suspicious cargo".

A statement said that seven crew members -- three Russians, two Ukrainians and two Tajiks -- were also detained.

A spokesman for the internationally recognised government, which is based in the east, told AFP the aircraft was carrying "humanitarian aid" for southwestern regions of Libya. ba/11:32

###







Turkey, US agree plan to train 2,000 moderate Syrian rebels: report

Istanbul, 15 November 2014 (MIA) - Turkey and the United States have agreed a plan under which some 2,000 fighters from the moderate Syrian opposition would be trained on Turkish soil, a report said Saturday.

The fighters from the Free Syrian Army will be trained at the Kirsehir base some 150 kilometers south of the capital Ankara by both Turkish and U.S. personnel starting from late December, Hurriet Daily News reported, quoting unnamed officials.

The United States will provide weapons for the fighters and is also expected to pay for the training, the English-language daily said.

The agreement was reached after a third round of talks between Turkish and U.S. military officials in Ankara, the daily said, AFP reports.

The officials did not, however, reach an agreement on the training of Syrian Kurd fighters from the Democratic Union Party (PYD), who are leading the battle against ISIS jihadists for the key border town of Kobani, the paper said.

The United States is due to train these fighters in Iraq's Kurdish region, it said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has insisted that the PYD fighters are part of a "terror group" allied to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who have fought Turkish security forces in a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish self-rule.