CAIRO
Egyptian officials said Monday that 15,583 Egyptians had returned from Libya over the course of the last week through the western Salloum border crossing and via Cairo International Airport.
"The number of Egyptians to come back from Libya through the Salloum terminal over the past week has reached 11,567," Salloum crossing director Mohamed Metwalli was quoted as saying by Egypt's official news agency.
"The arrival of Egyptians back from Libya is proceeding smoothly; arrival rates are increasing by the day," Metwalli said.
Al-Anani Hammouda, security chief in Egypt's Matrouh province, said in a statement that some 3,018 Egyptians had returned via Salloum on Sunday alone.
Monday's figures brought the total number of Egyptians to have returned from Libya through Salloum over the past week to 14,585.
Earlier Monday, a flight arrived at Cairo International Airport from Tunis carrying 557 Egyptians returning from Libya by way of Tunisia, Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry added that a total of 998 Egyptians had arrived from Libya since Friday on board four planes.
Numerous Egyptian expatriates have fled crisis-hit Libya since last week, when Egypt launched a series of airstrikes targeting suspected Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) sites in Libya's eastern city of Darnah.
The strikes came one day after a video appeared online purportedly showing the execution by masked ISIL militants of 21 Egyptian nationals in Libya.
Fractious Libya has remained a source of concern for neighboring Egypt since it descended into violence and chaos following the ouster and death of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in late 2011.
