KIEV, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Four Ukrainian citizens have returned home after being held hostage in Libya for over six years, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

The four men were released by the joint efforts of Ukrainian diplomats and the country's Foreign Intelligence Service, the ministry said in a statement, without giving further details.

According to local media, the men were oil industry workers.

Since the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi's government, Libya has been plagued by escalating violence and unrest as well as political division.