Two European women held captive for more than a year in Niger freed in Libya

Swiss national Eva Gretzmacher, 76, and Austrian Claudia Abbt, 69, have been freed after more than a year in captivity in Niger and handed over to authorities in Benghazi, Libya. They were kidnapped separately in Agadez in January and April of the previous year; no details have been released about their captors or the circumstances of their release. The women thanked eastern Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar and his son Saddam Haftar. A plane was expected to take them to their respective countries on Thursday, stopping in Vienna to transfer Gretzmacher to Austrian authorities.