The 21 detained Egyptian fishermen in Libya were released early Tuesday, reported Egyptian State TV, quoting Egypt’s minister of agriculture and fisheries Adel El-Beltagy.

The fishermen were detained in the Libyan city of Misrata last Saturday by Islamist Libyan armed group, Fajr Libya, according to Libyan media reports.

Fajr Libya, which controls several Libyan cities, issued a statement on Monday calling on Egyptian workers to leave the country within 48 hours in order to protect them “from any revenge attacks” following the Egyptian air forces’ strikes against Islamic State militant group’ targets.

Egypt has already started to evacuate Egyptian nationals from Libya.

In the past 24 hours Libyan news websites and newspapers claimed that at least 35 Egyptians were abducted following the Egyptian air strikes.

Egypt’s ministry of foreign affairs stated that there has been no confirmation so far about any new kidnap cases in Libya concerning Egyptian workers.

Egyptian air forces conducted air strikes in the IS-militant group controlled city of Derna in retaliation to the beheading of more than a dozen Egyptian Christians near Tripoli.

Fajr Libya, which is a coalition of Islamist-led armed groups, has controlled Tripoli and a number of western areas since August 2014, and backs an Islamist-led government headed by Omar El-Hassi, though it is not recognised internationally.

On the other hand, the internationally-recognised government led by Abduallah El-Thinni, resides in the eastern city of Tobruk.

Last year, army forces led by Gaddafi-era Libyan general Khalifa Haftar regained control of the eastern city of Benghazi from Islamist militias. Haftar's troops were later recognised as the national Libyan army.

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