'Preparing to leave for the task': CRPF commandos to return to Libya; will secure Indian embassy in Tripoli

NEW DELHI: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will soon redeploy a team of commandos to Libya to protect the Indian embassy in the African nation's capital Tripoli, CRPF Director General Gyandendra Pratap Singh announced on Sunday. The embassy had reopened in July last year after being shut for five years due to civil unrest in the country.

Speaking on the force’s 87th Raising Day in New Delhi, Singh said the team is preparing for deployment, similar to the CRPF unit currently securing the Indian embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.

India had withdrawn its embassy staff and CRPF security personnel from Tripoli in April 2019 amid a "sudden escalation" in violence during the Libyan civil war. The embassy’s functions were shifted to Tunisia, and later to Malta.

"About 40 commandos led by a deputy commandant-rank officer will take charge at Tripoli after due clearances are issued by the Ministry of External Affairs," sources told news agency PTI.

Libya has remained politically unstable since the 2011 fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with the country divided between rival factions controlling the east and west.

Back in 2014, India had repatriated around 3,800 of its nationals from Libya, including six kidnapped by ISIS.