An Austrian woman and a Swiss woman arrived in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi after being freed from more than 18 months of detention in Niger, two officials speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters on Wednesday. The Austrian, identified by Austrian authorities as Eva G and in her 70s, was kidnapped in the desert town of Agadez in central Niger in January 2025, Reuters reported. She had been living in Niger for years, and little information has been released about which group was holding her or what demands they may have made.

The Swiss woman was taken hostage in April 2025, and the Swiss Foreign Ministry did not previously name her, Reuters reported. The two officials said the women would be handed over to authorities in their respective countries after the necessary procedures were completed, and that the operation was overseen by Saddam Haftar, deputy commander-in-chief of Libya's armed forces. Libyan media reports carried by News Central TV named the women as Eva Gretzmacher, 76, and Claudia Abbt, 69, and said footage broadcast by Libya's eastern-based Al-Masar TV showed them thanking eastern Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar and his son Saddam Haftar for their role in securing their freedom.

Niger, like its neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, is battling a jihadist insurgency linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that spun out of a Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali in 2012, Reuters reported. The fighting has killed thousands and displaced millions across West Africa's central Sahel region over the past decade, and kidnappings appeared to intensify in Niger last year.