In an assault on an oil field in central Libya earlier this week, armed gunmen killed nine guards and one employee from Niger before abducting seven foreigners, officials said today.
According to Mashallah al-Zewi, a minister in the militia-backed government in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, the attackers arrived in about 30 pickup trucks at the al-Mabrouk field, located 170 kilometers (105 miles) south of the coastal city of Sirte.
They opened fire on the guards, killing nine of them, al-Zewi added.
In the Philippines, authorities said yesterday that three Filipino workers were among seven foreigners abducted in the same attack. The Department of Foreign Affairs said Manila and the Philippine Embassy in Libya were monitoring the situation and coordinating closely with the Italian company the Filipinos work for, Sogepi Srl, to ensure their well-being and safe return.
The nationalities of the other abducted foreigners were not immediately known.
Al-Zewi said the attackers also lined up more than 50 employees and lectured them about Islam before letting them go. They looted the whole facility, towing away food items, equipment, and vehicles.
The field is jointly owned with Total, but the French energy company said its employees left the facility in 2013 because of increasing security risks.
The French government said none of its nationals was caught up in the attack.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the oil field, which came less than two weeks after an assault by militants loyal to the Islamic State group on a luxurious hotel in Tripoli that killed 10 people, including an American, a French citizen and three people from Asia.
