The last time Arwa el-Shershary saw her three children — Dahab, Abd and Mohammad — was on Sept. 2, 2015. They were on their way to school when armed men stopped their vehicle in Surman, a city in Libya’s northwest. After shooting the driver five times in the leg, the men abducted her daughter and two sons from the backseat of the car. Dahab was 11 years old, Abd was 8 and Mohammad was 6.

Two days later, a man called the Shershary family to demand a ransom of 20 million Libyan dinars — more than $2 million in the current black market — but they couldn’t afford to pay.

“My father wanted to speak to [his children] over the phone, but the kidnappers wouldn’t let him,” Asawer el-Shershary, the eldest daughter, told Al-Monitor. “The [kidnappers] hung up and never contacted us again.”

For the next two years, the family appealed to the local authorities and tribal elders to search for the children. The gang that kidnapped the children was ostensibly found in Surman on March 15. That day, a militia acted on orders from the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) to go after the kidnappers. A shootout ensued, killing four of the five gang members and sending the lone survivor into a coma. If he doesn’t wake up, the family may never find their children, as they are relying on the man to disclose where the children are.