Gunmen kill two workers and kidnap five at Libya water plants

Gunmen killed two workers in raids on water plants in southeast Libya and kidnapped five others, including three Filipinos and a South Korean.

Officials said an unidentified armed group abducted the Filipinos and Korean on Friday from the Al Hassouna plant where the four worked as technicians.

Early yesterday, gunmen killed a Libyan engineer and a guard and kidnapped two guards at a water plant in Tazirbu, according to the Great ManMade River Project, a pipeline network supplying water to the Libyan Sahara.

“An armed attack was carried out by terrorist groups on the Tazirbu site causing havoc, looting, killing and terrorising families, children and the workers who ensure the supply of water to cities,” an official said.

The plants are part of the same network connecting desert wells to towns and cities in northern Libya.

The Al Hassouna and Tazirbu sites are about 1,000 kilometres apart.

It was not clear who carried out the attacks, but armed groups including extremist militants linked to Al Qaeda and ISIS have a presence in Libya, concentrated in remote desert areas.

Abduction has emerged as a lucrative source of revenue amid the breakdown of authority in Libya when it was plunged into chaos after the 2011 uprising that toppled and later led to the killing of longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi.

The country has two rival governments – the UN-backed Government of National Accord based in Tripoli and the House of Representatives based in the eastern town of Tobruk.

No one has claimed the killings, but groups linked to ISIS and Al Qaeda operate in the region