11 families to be taken to safer place from Sirte city
The Bangladeshis living in Libya are so far safe, and steps have been taken to move 11 families to a safer place from Sirte city in Libya amid clashes between conflicting groups, said an official on Wednesday.
“Steps have been taken to take 11 families to a safer zone from Sirte city,” ASM Ashraful Islam, Labour Councillor at Bangladesh Embassy to Libya, told UNB.
He said it is difficult to say how many Bangladeshis are exactly living in Sirte city but they have been asked to leave the city for safety.
The official also said they talked to Bangladeshi families there and conveyed them about their relocation as the officials fear deterioration in situation.
Ashraful Islam also said all the foreign Missions there have closed their operations but that of Bangladesh is fully operational.
The Bangladesh Embassy also talked to Libyan Red Crescent and they agreed to help it as around 33,000 Bangladeshis are living in Libya.
The Islamic State group is reporting the death of one of its prominent field commanders during fighting in Libya. In a eulogy statement posted late Monday on a militant website, the extremist Islamic group said Ahmed al-Ruwaysi , also known as Abu Zakariya al-Tunisi, was killed in recent days amid clashes in Sirte.
The 166th Battalion, a militia loyal to the un-elected and self-proclaimed Libyan government in Tripoli, is fighting to seize control of Sirte from the IS group’s Libyan affiliate, reports AP.
Ismail al-Shukri, says Wednesday’s clashes took place near the town of Nofaliya, close to the country’s main oil terminal overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, says another AP report.
It is the latest in a deadly campaign by IS extremists targeting Libya’s lucrative oil facilities. The militants have already overrun several oil fields and control the city of Sirte, near Nofaliya.
Al-Shukri says that along with the 10 killed, four troops were wounded in the fighting. The force is a mix of regular and militia troops that answer to the government in Tripoli.
Libya’s political crisis has left the country with two parliaments and two governments, along with rival militaries and militias.
Source: UNB
