Forces loyal to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar said Wednesday they had freed soldiers captured during deadly clashes near the southern border with Niger.
The self-styled Libyan National Army announced the operation but did not disclose how many troops were seized or later released.
The army said the soldiers were taken during coordinated attacks on three border checkpoints on January 31.
It blamed what it described as mercenary groups and outlawed terrorist gangs for the assaults that killed three of its troops.
A video released by the LNA showed what it called a precise military operation on the southern frontier.
The footage, distributed through official channels, claimed several attackers were killed and others captured during the rescue mission.
Separately, unverified videos circulating on social media showed armed men identifying themselves as southern fighters and revolutionaries.
Those men claimed they had overrun one of the LNA’s border posts during the January confrontation.
The remote frontier between Libya and Niger has long been a flashpoint marked by smuggling routes and intermittent armed raids.
Haftar’s forces, which control eastern Libya and parts of the south, frequently report repelling incursions in the vast desert region.
Libya remains fractured fifteen years after the uprising that toppled longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi and plunged the country into instability.
Political power is still split between a United Nations-recognised government in Tripoli and a rival eastern administration backed by Haftar.
The latest clashes underscore how fragile security remains along Libya’s southern edges, where shifting alliances and armed factions blur the line between insurgency and organised crime.
