By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli/Kufra, 4 February 2015:
An armed group yesterday afternoon attacked the Mabruk oilfield some 170 kilometres southeast of Sirte, killing four Petroleum Facilities Guards (PFG) and sezing three Filipino workers, according to a local oil industry source.
The attackers claimed to be members of the Islamic State (IS), the source told the Libya Herald. “They gave a religious speech” before leaving, he said, adding that the attack started around 2 pm.
The spokesman for Central PFG, Ali Al-Hassi, confirmed the attack but had no details on the kidnapping of the foreigners.
The oilfield, operated by Mabruk, a joint venture between the National Oil Corporation, France’s Total and Norway’s Statoil, has not been pumping for several months because of the closure of Sidra oil terminal. However, there were some 60 staff, contractors and guards at the field, maintaining and protecting the facilities.
Following the attack, 42 members of staff and two guards were being flown today to Tripoli and were due to arrive this evening, according to the source. “They are all safe,” he said adding that three Nigerean contracted staff were missing and may still be at the site. He thought that they had hidden during the attack but could not be found afterwards.
Reports that a Frenchman was among those seized are untrue, a Total official told this newspaper. There were no French citizens at the site. All had left last year.
Whether or not IS is responsible, its supporters are said to now be operating freely in the wider area, in particular in Sirte, and have been accused of being responsible for a number of deadly attacks and kidnappings there.
In December, 14 soldiers guarding the town’s Khaleej power station were murdered in an attack attributed to Islamists. A month ago, some 19 people, mostly LNA soldiers, were murdered at a military post in neighbouring Jufra district; the attacks has also been blamed on IS.
IS has also claimed responsibility for the abduction of a number of Egyptian Christians in Sirte.
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