Two European women held captive for more than a year in Niger freed in Libya
The aid workers from Switzerland and Austria are due to fly home on Thursday, reports say.
Two European women who had been held for more than a year in Niger have been released in Libya.
Eva Gretzmacher, 76, had spent many years in Niger working as an aid worker.
The two women — a Swiss national and an Austrian — were freed after more than a year in captivity in Niger and handed over to authorities in the Libyan city of Benghazi.
Swiss citizen Eva Gretzmacher, 76, and Austrian Claudia Abbt, 69, were abducted separately in the northern Nigerien city of Agadez in January and April last year.
No information has been provided about who was holding them or what they were demanding, although some reports had previously linked the abduction to Islamic State militants. The conditions of their release were not revealed.
Libyan officials were reported to have said the women would be transferred to authorities in their home countries once the necessary procedures were finished.
Libya's al-Masar TV showed the two women getting into what appeared to be an ambulance and later being treated by a health worker.
Speaking in French, the women thanked Khalifa Haftar, the military commander in eastern Libya, and his son, Saddam Haftar, for securing their release.
Gretzmacher was an aid worker who had lived in Niger for many years, while Abbt had spent several years living and working as a community worker in Agadez.
A plane was expected to depart Benghazi on Thursday, first making a stop in Vienna to hand Gretzmacher over to Austrian authorities before continuing to Switzerland with Abbt, the privately owned Air Info Agadez news outlet reported.
Libya has been trying to recover from the turmoil that followed the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that overthrew long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
The country is divided between two administrations — one in the east backed by Haftar, and another in the west in the capital Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah.
Niger and the wider Sahel region have endured years of jihadist violence, including kidnappings and deadly attacks, carried out by various groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
The country has been under military rule since 2023, when Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani ousted the elected president, Mohamed Bazoum.