Four New York Times reporters held captive in Libya by forces loyal to dictator Muammar Qaddafi were freed early Monday following intervention by Turkish negotiators, the Turkish ambassador to the United States reported via his twitter feed.
The ambassador, Namik Tan, added the reporters were being taken to the Libyan border to be handed over to U.S. officials.
The reporters went missing in eastern Libya amidst a sweep by Qaddafi loyalists advancing on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi on March 15. It was later determined the four were detained by Qaddafi's forces for entering rebel-controlled eastern Libya without visas, a common practice among Western journalists covering the ongoing insurrection in the country.
The reporters were Beirut bureau chief and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Shadid, reporter and videographer Stephen Farrell, and two photographers Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario.
There was no immediate confirmation of the reporters' release from The New York Times, but the newspaper did say on Friday it expected its reporters to be released within a matter of hours. The paper's expectations were based on comments made about the impending release by Qaddafi's son, Seif Al-Islam, in an interview with Christiane Amanpour of ABC News.