3 Bangladeshi workers killed

Four people, including three Bangladeshi workers, were killed in a gunfight between two rival groups in Benghazi of war-torn Libya yesterday.

“Three Bangladeshis and another person were killed when they were crossing a front line,” Ashraful Islam, labour counsellor at the Bangladesh embassy in Tripoli, said in an email.

The Bangladeshis are Mohammad Hasan of Jessore, Abdur Rahim of Rajbari, and Humayun Kabir, believed to be of Jhenaidah, he said. “The other victim is not a Bangladeshi.”

The bodies were kept at Benghazi Medical Centre, he added.

Contacted, Bangladesh Ambassador in Libya Maj Gen Shahidul Haque said they were still not sure whether the fourth victim was a Bangladeshi.

He also said the embassy would decide on sending the bodies back to Bangladesh on completion of the official procedures.

In a press release yesterday, Bangladesh foreign ministry said the bodies were recovered with the aid of the Red Cross.

 A Hotline (+218944642154) has been opened to monitor the situation on a 24/7 basis and coordinate the repatriation procedure of the victims. 

Around 50,000 Bangladeshi migrants in Libya have been passing hard times as the security situation in the North African country worsened due to fighting among factions allied to the country's two rival governments since 2014.

Amid escalating violence, the Bangladesh government banned the export of manpower to the country in July last year.

Later, the foreign ministry advised the Bangladeshi migrants to stay alert and avoid areas where demonstrations were being staged.

The migrants were also asked not to move into conflict zones, particularly Benghazi and Misrata.

Libya has been in chaos since the death of Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011 following a war between his loyalists and rebels backed by the Americans, British, and France and several Arab countries.

Currently, the country has two competing parliaments -- the Eastern House of Representatives and the rival General National Congress.

On last December, the United Nations mediated a deal for the creation of a unity government which could not be implemented yet.