Unidentified gunmen have attacked Al Ghani oilfield in Libya, where petroleum installations increasingly are becoming a target as various factions vie for control of the country.
Eight guards were killed in the attack, a spokesman for the national oil company said yesterday. Smoke was seen rising from the field, the official said.
Oil infrastructure is now at the heart of a conflict between two rival governments and their armed forces, who are battling to take over Libya four years after civil war ousted Muammar Gaddafi. Fighting has closed two major export terminals since December and slashed the state’s crude exports.
Islamist militants have also been gaining ground in the turmoil and have been blamed for overrunning two oilfields, Bahi and Mabrouk, in the Sirte basin. Another field, Dahra, has also been the site of clashes between Islamist militants and oil security forces.
Libya declared force majeure on 11 oilfields in its central region earlier this week after halting production there because of deteriorating security. Last month, gunmen killed 12 people south of Sirte, among them two Filipino and two Ghanaian nationals, after storming a remote oilfield. Officials said most of the victims were beheaded or shot.
Libya’s crude production is currently around 400,000 barrels per day, a quarter of the 1.6 million it produced before the Nato-backed uprising that toppled Gaddafi.
Meanwhile, Tunisian troops captured a large arms cache near the border with Libya, including Kalashnikov rifles, rockets and landmines, the government said yesterday.
Tunisia is waging a campaign against hardline Islamist groups who emerged after a 2011 uprising against autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali that put the North African country on track to democracy.
Kalashnikov rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, explosives seized
“A large number of Kalashnikov assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, and explosives were seized in the southern city of Ben Guerdan,” Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said.
Tunisia is worried that violence will spill over from neighbouring Libya, where Islamic State has expanded, exploiting widespread turmoil as two rival governments battle for control.
At least two Islamist militant groups operate in Tunisia, and analysts say Islamic State is also seeking to spread its influence across the region. Tunisian police this week killed two Islamist militants during clashes near the Algerian border.
Among the militant groups that emerged after 2011 is Ansar al-Sharia, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by US and European officials after being blamed for a 2012 storming of the US embassy in Tunis. More than 3,000 Tunisians have also left to join militants fighting in Syria and Iraq, and the government is concerned about the prospect of returning jihadi fighters carrying out attacks on their home soil.