Unknown gunmen have kidnapped a Libyan deputy foreign minister from his hotel room in the eastern city of Al-Baida where the international recognized government is based, a diplomatic source said.
The gunmen claimed that they were security people when they entered the hotel and then drove the official Hassan Al-Saghir to an unknown place, the source told KUNA.
The kidnapped official was a member of the National Transitional Council which ruled the oil-rich North African country following a revolt that toppled Muammar Gaddafi's regime in February 2011.
He was then appointed as Libyan ambassador to Ghana before he was handpicked as deputy foreign minister.
The internationally recognized government has been based in the remote east since a militia alliance seized the capital last August.