A prominent Egyptian militant wanted for scores of terror attacks in his country was handed over by Libyan forces loyal to a commander pushing to take the capital of Tripoli and flown back to Egypt on Wednesday.
Egyptian TV networks aired footage of a blindfolded Hisham el-Ashmawi, a former army officer turned militant, landing in Cairo and being taken off a military plane.
El-Ashmawi was captured last October in the Libyan city of Derna, a longtime bastion of Islamic militants, by commander Khalifa Hifter's self-styled Libyan National Army. Hifter's forces now are battling to take Tripoli, fighting militias allied to a U.N.-supported government based in the Libyan capital.
El-Ashmawi's return to Egypt came after a meeting Tuesday between Hifter and Egypt's intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, in the eastern city of Benghazi, which serves as Hifter's base.
The handover reflects the close ties between Egypt and Hifter, whose divisive campaign against Tripoli, which started in April, has so far killed over 560 people, mainly combatants but also civilians, and displaced tens of thousands.
Hifter's forces said on their Facebook page late Tuesday that el-Ashmawi was being returned to his home country.
Another Egyptian militant, wanted for attacks in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, was also sent back, according to Egypt's state-run MENA news agency.
After his capture, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi had called for el-Ashmawi's extradition so that he can be "held accountable."
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