Islamic State Claims Execution of 2 Tunisian Journalists in Libya

Tripoli (PNA/Xinhua) — The Libyan branch of the Islamic State (IS) on Thursday claimed to have executed two Tunisian journalists who disappeared for months.

The terrorist organization’s branch, based in eastern Libya, has published pictures of Sofiene Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari on it’s website, claiming it carried out “God’s judgment” on the two journalists.

It was impossible to verify the claim immediately.

Investigative journalist Sofiene Chourabi and photographer Nadhir Ktari disappeared on Sept. 8, 2014 in the eastern Libyan region of Ajdabiya.

According to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, they were on assignment in Libya and were seized by a militia in the eastern city of Brega on Sept. 6 but later released. Two days later, they disappeared again.

Libya has witnessed growing waves of violence since the 2011 turmoil that toppled the country’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi. Since then, its political transition has been mired in endless clashes between Islamist and secular factions.

IS, or at least terrorists linked to the group, has taken advantage of instability in Libya. David Rodriguez, the U.S. military commander in Africa, warned that IS has established training camps and a supply network in eastern Libya in last month. (PNA/Xinhua) FFC/EBP