Two Italians possibly killed in Libya - foreign ministry

(ANSA) - Rome, March 3 - The Foreign Ministry said Thursday that two of a group of four Italians kidnapped in Libya last year may have been killed in a shooting. "As regards the publication of some images of victims of a shooting in the region of Sabrata in Libya, apparently traceable to westerners, the foreign ministry communicates that those images, with the bodies still unavailable, could be two of the four Italian employees of the 'Bonatti' construction firm kidnapped in July 2015," the ministry said in a statement. It named the possible victims as Fausto Piano and Salvatore Failla. The ministry said it is verifying the situation, while stressing that this was difficult without the bodies, and that it has informed the families.
   A Libyan witness who is in Tunis after leaving Sabratha told ANSA Thursday that the two Italians killed in a shooting "were used as human shields" by ISIS jidahists. The witness said that the two were killed "in clashes" on Wednesday in the south of the city, in the area of Surman.