Staff Reporter :
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam on Wednesday said that none of the infighting groups in Lybia has yet claimed the responsibilities of taking hostage of two Bangladeshis in Libya.
“We are not sure yet whether the militants those picked up two Bangladesh nationals from Al Ghani Oil Field south of the city Sirte, Libya on Friday are involved with ISIS,” he told the journalists.
The Foreign Ministry earlier had claimed to the local media that the militant outfit ISIS was behind the Friday’s kidnapping incident.
Meanwhile, the two Bangladeshis have been identified as Helal Uddin of Jamalpur and Anowar Hossain from Noakhali.
“There are several groups those are fighting each others in Lybia. But none of them have claimed the responsibility of kidnapping Bangladeshi citizens. However, we are looking into the matter to get a clear picture whether other conflicting groups are involved in the abduction,” the state minister said.
He said: “In the previous incidents, we saw that the IS made announcement taking responsibility but this time it did not happen yet. The government has alerted the Bangladeshis living there so that they can stay safe in their workplaces.”
After the Friday’s incident, about 21 other Bangladeshis were taken to safe places who were employed in another neighbouring oil field. The Bangladesh Embassy in Tripoli is maintaining constant vigil on the matter.
The ministry statement issued on Tuesday said, “The Bangladesh embassy in Tripoli has confirmed that apart from Mr Helal Uddin, another Bangladeshi has been identified. He was mistakenly identified as Sudanese national having similar name”.
“However, Md Anowar’s identity was confirmed by a Bangladeshi working in a neighbouring oilfield,” the statement added.
He was abducted in the same incident when gunmen invaded the oil field killing eleven guards, beheading a number of them, before local forces fought back to retake its control.
