Eleven Individuals Charged with Kidnapping Estonians
Military Prosecutor Saqr Saqr charged on Friday 11 individuals for conspiring and participating in the kidnapping of the seven Estonian cyclists two weeks ago.
The accused abducted the cyclists through the use of force and their whereabouts are still unknown.
They were also charged with firing at an army intelligence patrol with unregistered weapons during a chase that resulted in the injury of officer Mohammad Fawwaz.
The seven were abducted at gunpoint in the eastern Bekaa town of Zahle on March 23 after entering Lebanon through Syria on their bicycles.
Several people have been arrested so far in connection with the kidnapping, amid an intensive hunt for the abductors in the mountainous region beyond the Bekaa town of Majdal Anjar.
"We cannot tell whether they are still in Lebanon or across the border," caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud told a press conference on Tuesday. "The army and the Internal Security Forces are doing their best to reach a happy end to this kidnapping."
Recently, an obscure group, the Movement for Renewal and Reform, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, asking for ransom to set the men free.
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