DFA coordinating with Libya, Iraq officials to free abducted Pinoys

FILE: “The Department, through our embassies in Baghdad and Tripoli, has been informed that five of our kababayan have been taken by armed men in Iraq and Libya on Friday,” DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a statement. (PNA Photo)

MANILA — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Sunday confirmed that five Filipinos were abducted in two separate incidents in Iraq and Libya on Friday and vowed to seek help to secure their release.

“The Department, through our embassies in Baghdad and Tripoli, has been informed that five of our kababayan have been taken by armed men in Iraq and Libya on Friday,” DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a statement.

“We are in touch with authorities in Iraq and Libya and have requested their assistance in locating and securing the release of our missing kababayan,” he added.

Initial reports from the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad said two Filipinas were taken by still unidentified armed men along a highway in Uzem District, south of Kirkuk.

Citing reports, Chargé D’affaires Julius Torres said the women were with two other Filipinas on their way to Baghdad from Kurdistan when their vehicle was stopped by the armed men.

Torres said reports received by the Embassy cited that two other Filipinas were able to escape and are now in police custody.

In Libya, three Filipino technicians were among four foreigners taken by armed men from a waterworks project site.

Chargé D’affaires Mardomel Melicor of the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli said the perpetrators entered the construction site located 500 kilometers from the capital early morning Friday and took five foreigners and four Libyans from their quarters.

The armed men later released one of the foreign workers and all the Libyans.

The DFA-Office of Public Diplomacy said the victims’ next of kin, as of last night, have yet to be informed pending “clear details” on who the captors are and why they were taken.