Lebanon Security and army officials told AFP that the Lebanese troops are seeking the whereabouts of seven Europeans ( Estonians) who went missing in the eastern Bekaa Valley while on a biking trip.
AFP quoted witnesses as saying the seven were kidnapped in 2 vans by armed men wearing masks .
The group, which entered the country from Syria, was abducted near the city of Zahle in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, said an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information to the media.
The security official said the group went missing in an area near Kfarzabad, where radical, Syria-backed Palestinian militants ( PFLP_GC) have bases. But there was no official confirmation of who had taken the group.
The army is reportedly raiding place near Kfarzabad in search of the missing Europeans.
Update: 1- Security sources told New TV one of the vehicles used in the abduction of the seven Estonians in Zahle is registered in the name of a citizen from the southern town of Qana, a Hezbollah stronghold. The tourists’ bikes are now in the custody of the al-Maalqa police station in Zahle.
The source did not reveal the name of the Qana resident
Update 2 – In another development the Estonian Foreign ministry told France press that it has not received any information about its kidnapped citizens . The spokeswomen of the ministry also said that ” since one month we warned our citizens against travel to Lebanon
Update 3 – Syrian-backed Palestinian militants ( PFLP-GC) categorically denied the presence of any Europeans at its base in Kfarzabad and also condemned the kidnapping .
The militants offered to help the Lebanese internal security and army in finding the missing Europeans
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.