3 Pinoys snatched in Libya, 2 in Iraq

Three Filipinos were kidnapped in Libya on Friday, bringing the total of those seized in the Middle East to five, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

On the same day, two Filipino women were also reported taken in Iraq.

“We are in touch with authorities in Iraq and Libya and have requested their assistance in locating and securing the release of our missing kababayan,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a statement.

The Philippine embassy in Baghdad said the two Filipinas were taken by still unidentified armed men along a highway in Uzem district, south of Kirkuk. Chargé d’Affaires Julius Torres said the

women were on their way to Baghdad from Kurdistan when their vehicle was stopped by armed men.

A report said the women were traveling to northern Iraq with three other Filipinos when their car broke down. When the women exited the car, several unidentified men driving a yellow car pulled over and took them.

Torres said reports received by the embassy indicate that the driver abandoned his vehicle and four women were initially taken by the armed men. However, two of them were able to escape and are now in police custody.

In Libya, the Philippine embassy in Tripoli said three Filipino technicians were among four foreign nationals taken by armed men from a waterworks project site.

Chargé d’Affaires Mardomel Melicor said armed men entered the construction site, about 500 kilometers from Tripoli, early morning Friday and took five foreigners and four Libyans from their quarters.

Report said a Korean was among those abducted by the unidentified armed group in Libya.

Melicor said the armed men later released one of the foreign workers and all the Libyans.