A Serbian employee of a German company who was kidnapped at the weekend in a remote part of Libya was released Wednesday, the foreign ministry in Belgrade said.

"Miroslav Tomic, 46, employed by German firm Ferrostaal and kidnapped on Sunday afternoon... was freed today," a ministry statement said citing the Serbian embassy in Tripoli, without giving details about the kidnappers.

A Serbian worker has been kidnapped in Libya, Belgrade's foreign ministry said Tuesday, two months after the deaths of two abducted Serbian embassy employees in the North African country.

State broadcaster RTS named the man as 46-year-old Miroslav Tomic, an employee of a German company, who was seized on Saturday while visiting an oil well in a remote area of the lawless country near the border with Egypt.

NATO is ten weeks away from launching a naval mission off Libya as part of a controversial U.S.-backed plan to close the Western Mediterranean migrant route to Europe, officials said Monday.

The advanced state of preparations for the operation was revealed by Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti as leaders of the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and Italy met in Germany.

Libya's Vice President Ahmed Maetig has expressed hope that the European Union will enter into an agreement with his country similar to that between the EU and Turkey restricting the flow of migrants to Europe.

Maetig made the appeal while in Rome meeting with Italy's Interior Minister Angelino Alfano.

At least eight African migrants, and possibly as many as 27, died in a new boat tragedy off the coast of Libya, a search and rescue organization said Monday.

French charity SOS Mediterranee said its boat, the Aquarius, had rescued 108 migrants from a stricken dinghy in high seas on Sunday.

Clashes broke out in Tripoli on Saturday night just hours after a visit by the French and German foreign ministers in the first outbreak of violence since the arrival of the U.N.-backed government two weeks ago.

Gunfire and small explosions could be heard in the Hay el-Andalous area north of the capital and continued for about 30 minutes, an AFP correspondent said, adding that there was still sporadic gunfire and the sound of ambulance sirens.

A group of European ambassadors flew into Libya's capital Thursday for the first time since 2014 to support the unity government's struggle to end years of chaos exploited by jihadists.

French ambassador Antoine Sivan, Peter Millett of Britain and Spain's Jose Antonio Bordallo held talks with the Government of National Accord (GNA) at the Tripoli naval base where it has set up operations.

A car bomb attack on a security post in the Libyan city of Misrata on Wednesday left one dead and four wounded, local government and medical sources said.

The municipal council of Misrata, 200 kilometers (120 miles) east of Tripoli, said the post in the Saddada area was the target of "a cowardly terrorist attack" that killed one guard.

Around 50 countries and international organizations met in Tunis on Tuesday to discuss "international support" for a new unity government in neighboring Libya.

The one-day meeting sponsored by the United Nations and Great Britain aims to allow representatives of the U.N.-backed authority to outline its priorities to rebuild the country's economy after five years of turbulence.

President Barack Obama says the biggest mistake of his presidency was a lack of planning for the aftermath of the fall of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, with the country spiraling into chaos and grappling with violent extremists.

Asked in a Fox News interview aired Sunday to name the "worst mistake" of his presidency, the U.S. leader said it was "probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya."