Five detainees admit to murdering seven reporters in Libya

According to the AFP, Libya's internationally recognised government said on Wednesday that five detainees had admitted to killing five reporters from a local television station as well as two Tunisian journalists. The murders were previously claimed by the Islamic State group but those in custody - two Libyans and three Egyptians - "have admitted their responsibility in the murders of the Barqa television team". The government announced the news on its Facebook page.

The team of reporters from Barqa TV had been missing for eight months while in January, the Libyan branch of the Islamic State group claimed to have executed the two Tunisian journalists - Sofiene Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari - who went missing in eastern Libya in September. Four of the five Barqa TV victims were Libyans, while the fifth was an Egyptian cameraman.

According to the statement, during the course of the investigation, the detainees also admitted responsibility for "the murder of two Tunisian journalists in Libya".

Security services have, however, not yet been able to retrieve the bodies because they are said to have been buried on the outskirts of the eastern city of Derna, which is under the control of jihadist groups including IS, the government said.

The government statement did not say when the murders took place or when the suspects were arrested.

The Tunisian government issued another statement on Wednesday saying Prime Minister Habib Essid had chaired a crisis meeting in response to the news. He had also met with the parents of the two Tunisian victims to express "the government's solidarity".

The Tunisian secretary of state for foreign affairs, Touhami Abdouli, told a state broadcaster that diplomatic efforts were underway in Tripoli and Tunis to verify the information.

"The Libyan charge d'affaires in Tunisia has indicated he has been in touch with the concerned Libyan parties and that so far it is not possible to confirm or deny the information," Abdouli said.