(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Libyan branch of the Islamic State group claimed yesterday to have killed two Tunisian journalists who went missing in September.
In a statement released on its websites showing images of Sofiene Chourabi (pictured), and Nadhir Ktari, the group said it had "applied the law" against them. It was not immediately possible to verify the claim.
In the statement signed by the "communication service of the province of Barqa", the group accused the two Tunisians of having worked for "a satellite channel that fights religion".
Barqa is the ancient name of a region in eastern Libya where IS is thought to have gained a foothold. A picture showed the two young men alongside an armed man in fatigues, his face covered.
Chourabi, an investigative journalist and blogger who was active during Tunisia's 2011 revolution, and Ktari, a photographer, went missing on September 8 in the eastern Libyan region of Ajdabiya.
Their disappearance came after the pair, who were working in Libya without authorisation, were detained by an armed group days earlier but released.
Libya has been engulfed by chaos since the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that toppled and killed veteran dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with two rival governments and a host of militias now vying for territory.
IS has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, declaring a "caliphate" and committing widespread atrocities, including the beheading of Western hostages.
Meanwhile, a 36-year-old German man and a 27-year-old Turkish citizen went on trial in Berlin yesterday charged with membership of a foreign terror group in Syria.
Federal Prosecutor Matthias Krauss said the suspects had travelled to Syria in 2013 where they joined Junud Al Sham, a group of Chechen origin, with whom they received training and went on to fight.
Junud Al Sham aims to establish a caliphate in the region operating under Shariah, Islamic law, Krauss said. Germany's Institute for International and Security Affairs describes it as a well-trained group which has often cooperated with the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda's affiliate in the Syrian war.
Last month Germany's top public prosecutor said the German justice system was struggling to cope with the number of suspected jihadists returning from Syria and the resulting investigations and trials.
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