Tripoli, Dec 11 (IANS): The eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) has announced the release of a foreign commercial ship which it intercepted earlier this week.

"The General Command of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces releases the ship Mabruka, which carries the flag of Jamaica, after searching it and completing the investigation with its crew," Xinhua news agency quoted LNA spokesperson Ahmad al-Mismari as saying in a statement on Thursday.

The ship was fined for sailing in Libyan territorial waters without a Libyan permission or authorisation, and also for entering a restricted zone, he said.

The crew of the ship, which was heading to the western city of Misrata under a Jamaican flag, consisted of nine Turks, seven Indians and an Azerbaijani, al-Mismari said.

Libya has been locked in a civil war since the ouster and killing of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The situation escalated in 2014, splitting power between two rival governments: the UN-backed Government of National Accord based in the capital Tripoli and another in the northeastern city of Tobruk allied with eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar.