South Korea said Thursday it had deployed a warship to Libya in an apparent show of force to secure the release of a national kidnapped along with three Filipinos in the south-western region.
The vessel, Munmu the Great, which takes part in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden, was on its way to Libya, Seoul officials said Wednesday.
The warship is also preparing for all possibilities including the need for military support, a South Korean defense ministry spokesman said.
“On the first day he was abducted, the president ordered the government to do its utmost with all resources the country has,” The South Korean President’s spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said.
“The government has been maintaining a close cooperation system with the government of Libya and other allies, such as the Philippines and the United States, since the day of the incident for his safety and release.” He explained.
A video footage showed the South Korean captive asking the President to help win his release, and so did the three other abducted persons who are from The Philippines.
A Libyan security source said the Head of the Presidential Council order security apparatuses in Tripoli to follow the issue of the kidnapped foreigners, adding that fingers are pointed at IS militants, while other reports say they are kidnapped by other armed groups.
Sources in southern Libya said a man named Tariq Ehnish is the kidnapper and he wishes to use the four persons to free his bother Al-Mabrouk Ehnish who is arrested by the Tripoli-based Special Deterrence Force.
Ehnish stormed into the Man-Made River’s headquarters and burnt power generators and other stuff, then blocked water supplies to Tripoli and other cities for days in order to press the SDF to release his brother, who is a man linked to Gaddafi regime and is caused by the SDF of cooperating with people loyal to Saif Gaddafi to advance on Tripoli and destabilize it.