Nine foreign workers are believed to be in the hands of ISIS-affiliated militants after an attack on a Libyan oil field, according to officials.
Libya’s internationally recognized government has blamed “ISIS militias” for the attack Friday in which the Al-Ghani oil field was set on fire.
The kidnapped foreigners were working for VAOS, an Austrian-owned oil services company whose headquarters are in Tripoli, the Libyan capital.
They include four Filipinos, an Austrian, a Czech and a Ghanaian, according to the Philippine foreign ministry. The Bangladeshi government said one of its citizens was also taken hostage. The nationality of the ninth worker was unclear.
The abductions come amid Libya’s deteriorating security situation in which Islamic militias, some of them pledging allegiance to the extremist group ISIS, have thrived.
Egypt carried out airstrikes against ISIS militants in Libya last month after the killings of Egyptian Christians who had been kidnapped while working in a Libyan city.
