Four Italian journalists were abducted by gunmen near the city of Zawiyah in western Libya as they travelled towards Tripoli on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
Italian officials told the news agency that the four, who worked for Italian newspapers Corriere della Sera, La Stampa and Avvenire, are being held in an apartment in Tripoli.
According to the report, Guido de Sanctis, the Italian consul in Benghazi, was able to speak to one of the journalists by phone.
“They are fine, even if everything happened in a very difficult atmosphere,” de Sanctis told Reuters.
He added, “They have been allowed to call Italy and they have been allowed to get calls from us. They were given food to eat when the Ramadan fast was broken.”
De Sanctis said the four were seized near Zawiyah and were then handed to others, presumably loyalists to Muammar Qaddafi.
It is believed the apartment in which the journalists are being held in Tripoli is close to the Rixos hotel, where foreign journalists who were trapped for five days left unharmed earlier on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, there was still no sign of Qaddafi on Wednesday, and Libya’s rebel leadership offered a $1.67 million “dead or alive” bounty for him, adding it would grant carte blanch immunity to any member of his entourage who kills him or hands him over.
The rebels also promised that Libya will hold elections in eight months.
“In eight months we will hold legislative and presidential elections. We want a democratic government and a just constitution,” promised Abdel Jalil, chairman of the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC).
“Above all we do not wish to continue to be isolated in the world as we have been up to now,” he added.