TRIPOLI, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Libya's criminal investigation department on Saturday found the remains of three children who were kidnapped by the largest armed gang in the western Libya more than two years ago.
The children, who came from the family of Al-Shershari, a Libyan businessman, were found killed in Abu Issa area between Sorman and Al-Zawiya in western Libya after they were abducted for ransom in December 2015.
"After investigation into those involved in the kidnapping of the Shershari children, they confessed of killing the three children who were kidnapped more than two years ago," Haitham Mohamed, spokesman of the criminal investigation department, told Xinhua.
"In presence of prosecutors and forensics, their remains were found buried in a forest south of the city of Sorman. After exhumation of the remains and samples taking, we found that the remains belong to the kidnapped Shershari children," Mohamed added.
The spokesman said that the remains of the children, who were seven, nine, and 13 years old when they were kidnapped, were taken to the city's hospital.
The department posted images of the exhumation of the children's remains on its official Facebook page.
The forces of the criminal investigation department in March raided a location of a criminal gang involved in murdering and kidnapping in Sorman, some 60 km west of the capital Tripoli, after the Attorney General issued arrest warrants against them.
The department forces killed five gang members and injured and arrested Nemri Al-Mahjubi, leader of the gang.
The criminal group is believed to be one of the largest and most dangerous gangs in western Libya.
According to the Attorney General, the gang is involved in more than 30 cases of murder, kidnapping and attack on government offices, most notably the kidnapping of the three children.
The fate of the three children had remained unknown since their abduction, a case that drew wide public attention in Libya.
