Libyan deputy FM kidnapped

AL-BAIDA, Libya: Gunmen kidnapped a Libyan deputy foreign minister from his hotel room on Sunday in the eastern city of al-Baida where the recognised government is based, a ministry official said. The kidnappers told the staff they were members of the security forces when they entered the hotel before dawn, the official said, citing witnesses.
They drove deputy minister Hassan al-Saghir off to an unknown destination.
No group immediately claimed his abduction but Libya has been rocked by a spate of kidnappings of both foreigners and Libyans since the overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Qadhafi in a Nato-backed uprising in 2011.