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All foreign journalists have left a hotel in Tripoli after being trapped in the building for several days, CNN television reported on Wednesday.

The release of the reporters was arranged by Red Cross representatives. The journalists were whisked away from the Rixos Hotel in downtown Tripoli in cars carrying the Red Cross insignia.

Al Arabiya television said earlier that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi loyalists were keeping around 35 journalists inside the hotel since late Tuesday as the fighting for control of the capital between Gaddafi's soldiers and rebels intensified.

According to Al Arabiya, the journalists had been largely deprived of water and electricity, and food was in short supply. They had to wear bullet-proof vests and helmets, as gunfire periodically erupted in the neighborhood.

Rebels claimed on Wednesday they were trying to release the reporters, who had been issued passes by the International Organization for Migration for a possible departure from the Libyan capital by sea.

However, a direct assault on the hotel guarded by a handful of soldiers wearing civilian clothes and armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and grenade launchers could have put the lives of the reporters in serious danger. http://en.rian.ru/world/20110824/166125229.html

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