World Bulletin / News Desk

Turkish nationals have been evacuated from Libya as the security situation continues to deteriorate in the country.

A total of 252 Turkish nationals were transferred to Tunis by bus and flown out by Turkish Airlines on Friday.

Turkish national and doner kebab shop worker Mithat Diranda told reporters at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport that he was stranded in his home for 20 days because of violence in the streets.

Diranda said: "The situation in Libya is awful. Everyone is killing each other.

"There is no gas, no food, nothing."

"People cannot go shopping. When we did, people were putting guns to our heads, asking for our wallets and mobile phones," he added. "If they cannot mug you, they hold you hostage. Two of my friends are missing. They demand a ransom. Maybe they will kill my friends."

Construction worker Ismail Sahin said most Turkish nationals had experienced great fear before they left Libya.

"Our people there are in very bad condition, their lives are in danger, he said.

Turkey's foreign ministry has warned Turkish citizens to leave Libya and avoid traveling to the country.

Benghazi has been the scene of mounting crime and militancy since the 2011 ouster and death of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday the Turkish embassy in Tripoli may have to be evacuated.

The city has also witnessed sporadic fighting between forces loyal to renegade general Khalifa Haftar and rebel militias, the latter of which have become a common feature of post-Gaddafi Libya.

Haftar declared war on armed militias based in eastern Libya in May, vowing to "purge" the country of "extremists".

The Libyan government has called the former general's campaign a coup.

After serving as army chief-of-staff under Gaddafi, Haftar spent nearly two decades in the United States in exile before returning to Libya in 2011 to join the uprising against the long-serving autocrat.