Published : Tuesday, 10 March, 2015, Time : 12:00 AM, View Count : 22
Staff Correspondent A Bangladeshi national along with eight other foreign workers were taken hostage last Friday by the Islamic State [ISIS] militant group in an attack on an oilfield south of the city Sirte in Libya. A Bangladesh Foreign Ministry press release issued in Dhaka today said the Bangladesh Embassy in Tripoli has confirmed the particulars of the abducted Bangladeshi national named Helal Uddin , PP no. B0156553, District: Jamalpur. The incident happened when gunmen invaded the Al-Ghani oil field south of the city Sirte of Libya killing 11 Guards, beheading a number of them before local forces fought back to take control of the oil-field. Bangladesh Embassy in Tripoli is trying to find out whereabouts of the abducted Bangladeshi national. Bangladesh Embassy is also in close contact with National Oil Company [NOC] of Libya and concerned company VAOS where the incident took place. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is closely monitoring the incident with Bangladesh Embassy in Tripoli, the press release added. Meanwhile, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammad Shahriar Alam admitted to the media that "unfortunately, one Bangladeshi national was kidnapped and our embassy in Tripoli has engaged all of its efforts to find out and release him with safety". It may be mentioned here that foreign nationals have increasingly become targets in Libya's turmoil, where two rival governments are battling for control and Islamic extremists have grown in the chaos that followed Muammar Gaddafi's ouster four years ago. Western governments are backing United Nations negotiations to end the crisis in Libya, worried that the large North African state just across the Mediterranean from mainland Europe is becoming a haven for Islamist militants.