ISIL beheads 8 Libyan guards in oil field attack

The ISIL Takfiri terrorist group has decapitated eight Libyan guards during an offensive on an oil field in the center of the country.

Libya's military spokesman, Ahmed al-Mesmari, said Monday that the guards were beheaded after the terrorists carried out a deadly attack on the al-Ghani oil field near the town of Zalla on Friday.

Mesmari added that the ISIL group is trying to bring the whole petroleum industry of the violence-wracked country under its control, warning that the potential takeover would have dire consequences for the whole nation.

"This is the lifeline of the Libyan people," he cautioned.

According to reports, the terrorists also abducted nine foreign workers, including four Filipinos, a Czech, a Ghanaian, an Austrian, and a Bangladeshi during the attack. This is while one of the kidnapped workers still remains unidentified.

The Libyan army, loyal to the country’s internationally recognized government, is in charge of protecting the oil fields which have come under frequent attacks by the militants over the past months.

Philippines’s response

Earlier in the day, the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Charles Jose (pictured below) said his country is in contact with the Libyan government, the embassies of other abducted foreign nationals and the employer of the workers, Austrian-owned VAOS Oil Service, in a bid to secure the freedom of the kidnapped.

He also urged all Filipino nationals to immediately leave the North African country, adding that Manila would pay the expenses of their repatriation.

Back in February, three other Filipinos were also kidnapped by militants in another Libyan oil field. No information has been released on their location so far.

Source of conflict

Libya has two rival camps vying for control of the country, with one controlling Tripoli, and the other, Libya’s internationally recognized government, governing the cities of Bayda and Tobruk.

Libya’s government and elected parliament moved to the eastern city of Tobruk after an armed group based in the northwestern city of Misrata seized Tripoli and most government institutions in August 2014.

Libya plunged into chaos following a 2011 uprising against the dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi. The ouster of Gaddafi gave rise to a patchwork of heavily-armed militias and deep political divisions.

The country has been witnessing numerous clashes between government forces and rival militia groups, which refuse to lay down arms.

ISIL enters the equation in Libya

The presence of ISIL Takfiri terrorists in Libya has further complicated the situation in the violence-wracked North African country.

The terrorist group, which controls some regions in Iraq and Syria, has also launched operations in Libya.

In February, 45 people were killed and dozens of others injured in ISIL’s triple bomb explosions that struck Libya’s northeastern city of al-Qubah.

In the same month, the Takfiri group also released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya (shown above). The victims had reportedly been abducted in Libya's northern coastal city of Sirte in two attacks in December and January.

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