Forces loyal to renegade general Khalifa Haftar have released a Turkish cargo ship they seized off Libya earlier this week, a senior Turkish official said on Thursday, Report informs.
Eastern Libyan commander Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) intercepted a Turkish ship named Mabrooka and towed it to the port of Ras Al-Hilal, east of Benghazi, on Monday, prompting Turkish warnings of retaliation and "grave consequences."
LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said the vessel was sailing under a Jamaican flag and heading to Misrata's western city - hundreds of miles from where it was captured.
"The ship's crew is made of nine Turks, seven Indians, and one Azerbaijani sailor. It is being investigated for its violations of maritime laws and regulations," Mismari said in a statement. He claimed that the ship entered a restricted zone and didn't respond to the local authorities' calls.