Staff Reporter :
Militants of Islamic State (IS) of Iraq and Syria have shot and killed two Bangladesh nationals in Libya.
The incident took place on Tuesday noon. The victims were identified as Mosleh Uddin, 30, a resident of Dantmandol village under Nasirnagar upazila in Brahmanbaria district and Arifur Rahman Siddique, 28, of Barisal.
No government conformation, however, was available till the time of filing of this report at 7:30pm yesterday.
According to information received in Dhaka on Thursday, a Libya expatriate Bangladeshi Md Rafiq, who hailed from Chunta village under Satail upzila, informed Mosleh’s family about the death.
“Mosleh Uddin had been residing at Al Kufra city of Libya for last three years. On Tuesday, he along with three other friends went to Ajdabiya city where they were abducted by the IS militants,” victim’s elder brother Motalib said. He said, “At one stage, Mosleh and Arif were shot as they tried to flee from the militants. Two of their friends were able to flee away dodging IS surveillance. They are alive….. However, we hope the government will take immediate steps to bring my brother’s body back.”
Officer-in-Charge [OC] of Nasirnagar Police Station Abdul Qader said that he has been informed about the matter and have sent a sub-inspector (SI) to the victim’s house.
In another incident, two other Bangladesh nationals were killed on May 4 in Saudi Arabia when Houthi rebels in Yemen fired mortar shells across the border into Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh’s ministry of foreign affairs said on Monday.
The victims, identified as, Mizan and Abdul Jalil, were working at a farm in the Najran area, 650 kilometers (400 miles) from Jeddah and 50 km (30 miles) from the Yemen border.
Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab coalition in air strikes against Iranian-allied Houthi rebels who have seized large areas of Yemen. Last week the insurgents fired across the border into Saudi Arabia. Khaleda Begum, spokesperson of Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at that time said Bangladesh diplomats had visited the area after the incident and contacted the employers of the victims as well as family members in Bangladesh.
