Gunmen kidnap 4 oil engineers in southern Libya

Gunmen have attacked an oilfield in southern Libya, abducting four engineers, including three Libyans and a Romanian national.

According to a local security official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, the four were kidnapped from Sharara oilfield on Saturday and taken to an unknown destination.

No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction yet.

Security forces have launched a manhunt for the kidnappers, the source said.

On Friday, two Libyan engineers were abducted from the same oilfield but were released later.

Some sources, however, said two of the four engineers kidnapped on Saturday were later released.

Libya plunged into chaos in 2011, when its long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and killed and rival militia groups and factions started vying for power and territory.

The ensuing power vacuum led to the emergence of several rival seats of government, including one in Tobruk and another in Tripoli, along with a host of heavily-armed militant groups, including Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

Last week, suspected Daesh terrorists killed two workers and kidnapped two others at a water plant in southeastern Libya. An engineer and a guard were shot dead and two guards were kidnapped in the raid on Tazirbu site, according to a statement from the Great Man-made River Project, a pipe network supplying ground water from Libyan Sahara.

The statement said the raid bore the hallmarks of an attack by Daesh terrorists.

SS