UPDATE - Abducted Serbian embassy staff 'die in Libya airstrike'

UPDATES TO ADD PENTAGON REACTION

BELGRADE, Serbia/WASHINGTON (AA) - Serbia has said it thinks that two abducted officials from its embassy in Libya were killed in a U.S. air strike against Daesh bases Friday.

The pair was abducted in Libya last November by a group of armed men.

Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic told reporters in Belgrade on Saturday that the Serbian government had received information that the two officials had been killed.

Dacic said that information has not been officially confirmed by the Libyan authorities.

"We cannot confirm with certainty, but we got the photos that clearly indicate that information is probably correct," Dacic said.

According to Serbia’s state news agency, the abducted officials were a driver and communications officer identified as Jovica Stepic and Sladjana Stankovic.

A group of armed men had attacked a convoy of vehicles taking Serbia’s ambassador to Tunisia.

During the attack, gunmen kidnapped the two embassy officials. The ambassador escaped unharmed.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement that they have seen reports about the death of two Serbian hostages in Libya but said that they have no information indicating that their deaths were a result of recent U.S. airstrike on Daesh senior leaders at the training camp in the country.

Cook said that the U.S. military had watched the training camp for weeks before the jets conducted the airstrikes noting, “At the time of the strike there were no indications of any civilians present”.

“While the circumstances of their deaths remain unclear, we, nevertheless, express our deepest condolences to the Serbian government and the families of those killed,” Cook said.

The operation on the camp took place in Sabratha, about 50 miles west of Tripoli.

Cook failed to confirm the number of militants killed on Friday but said an alleged Tunisian terror facilitator linked to two major attacks was killed along with several militants.