Security sources confirmed that 29 prisoners escaped from the notorious, eastern-based Gernada prison on Friday after a riot incident.
The sources added that the police in surrounding departments could not help the Gernada prison guards control the riot. The names of the men at large were published later in a document from the prison director that was leaked to the media, calling for recapturing and bringing them back to jail.
However, the Deputy Minister of Interior, Faraj Agaiem, denied the prison break at Gernada and his media office said it was just riot by some inmates. He stated that the rumors about the escape were fake.
Libya has been gripped by an armed conflict between rival factions following the overthrow of long-time leader Moammar Gaddafi in 2011.