Pakistani oil engineer kidnapped in southern Libya

TRIPOLI, March 2 (Xinhua) -- An unknown armed group kidnapped a Pakistani engineer working in an oil field near the southern Libyan city of Ubari, a security source said Friday.

"The Pakistani engineer, named Shahid Abdul-Salam, who is in his 50s, was kidnapped by an unknown armed group," Brig. Abdul-Qadir Al-Bakush, the chief of Ubari Security Directorate, told Xinhua.

According to Al-Bakush, the Pakistani engineer who worked for the Al-Fil oil field, and a Libyan working at Ubari power plant, were stopped by a group of masked gunmen driving a vehicle, in an area about 8 km west of the city.

"They took the foreign engineer and released the Libyan engineer and they damaged his car by setting fire to the wheels," the brigadier said.

Located some 900 km south of the capital Tripoli, the Al-Fil oil field is co-operated by Italian energy giant ENI and the Libyan National Oil Corporation, producing 75,000 barrels of crude oil every day.

A few days ago, the Libyan state corporation declared temporary closure of the oil field, after all security guards withdrew in protest of delayed payments of their wages. Enditem