Libya

More than 40 people are feared drowned off Italy in the latest sinking incident in the Mediterranean Sea.

According to media reports, 41 bodies and just four survivors were found by navy searchers on Thursday when they arrived in the Italian port of Traponi.

According to the survivors, their group of 45 people had left Tripoli on a raft, ANSA news agency reports.

Around 400 migrants are feared dead after their boat capsized off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Italian coast guard rescued 144 people from the boat on Monday and initiated an air and sea operation with the hope of finding other survivors.

A bomb exploded at the gate of the Moroccan embassy in Libya's capital, Tripoli, on Monday, causing some damage but injuring nobody.

The bomb was left in a bag at the gate of the embassy which is currently inactive. The blast caused some damage to the building and cars parked nearby.

Morocco is hosting UN-sponsored talks between rival Libyan government factions.

The United States and European powers pressed Libya's rival factions to set an "unconditional" ceasefire at talks restarting on April 13, as two attacks on foreign embassies were linked to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants.

Tunisia on April 2 accused Turkey of facilitating the transit of fighters bound for neighbouring Syria and Iraq, where thousands of its citizens have joined the ranks of jihadist groups.
 

Tunisia said two gunmen who killed 21 people at its national museum trained at a militant camp in Libya, as the country marked its Independence Day in sombre fashion on March 20.
      

Ambassador denies Serbians were abducted in Libya

BELGRADE -- No Serbian citizens were abducted on Tuesday in the town of Sirte, Serbian Ambassador to Libya Oliver Potezica has said.

Earlier in the day, U.S. broadcaster CNN reported that Islamic State (IS) terrorists had abducted 20 medical workers, "Serbians among them."

A once-retired general leading a sweeping offensive against Islamists has been named head of the Libyan army loyal to the country's internationally recognised parliament, an official said March 2, in a move expected to deepen divisions in the conflict-riven nation.
      

Egypt is forcing Libyan airliners flying between Turkey and Jordan and the capital Tripoli to stop in eastern Libya to allow the country's internationally recognized government to screen out potential Islamist fighters, officials said.
   

Libya?s decision to exclude Turkish companies from contracts does not carry any value given the dispute over political legitimacy in the country, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has said.