Up to 10 foreign workers feared kidnapped after attack on Libyan oil field

Up to 10 foreign workers are missing after a militant attack on a Libyan oil field and there is a possibility they have been taken hostage.

Foreigners have increasingly become targets in Libya's turmoil, where two rival governments are battling for control and Islamist extremists have grown in the chaos that followed Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's ouster four years ago.

Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said the workers missing after the assault earlier last week on al-Ghani field, included a Czech and an Austrian and others from Bangladesh and the Philippines.

"We are examining the possibility that a kidnapping has taken place," Zaoralek said Saturday.

Libya's oil security forces said on Friday they had retaken control of the oilfield after Islamist militants attacked the facility, killing 11 guards. Several of those were beheaded, one official said.

Zaoralek said there had been no contact with any group claiming responsibility, adding that his ministry was certain the Czech citizen had not been killed during the attack.

Libya's National Oil Company said at least seven foreigners including an Austrian, a Czech, Filipinos and a national of an African country were missing after the al-Ghani attack.