Libyan gunmen rob Korean-run building sites

Armed robbers broke into two South Korean-run construction sites in Libya in separate incidents earlier this week, with one group stealing cash, but no one was injured, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

Three armed men stormed an office at a construction site in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Sunday and stole about $2,500 from there, the ministry said.

Separately, a group of four armed people broke into a site in Tripoli on the same day and attempted to take a vehicle away. But they fled after failing to open the vehicle, the ministry said.

“Security in Libya is turning very unstable as guns are given to supporters of leader (Moammar) Gadhafi,” a ministry official said. “As the purpose of armed robbers is money, it would be safer to give them what they want than trying to fight them off.”

Since last month, South Korean-run construction sites in Libya have suffered a series of intrusions as unrest has escalated in the North African nation amid bloody clashes between anti-government protesters and Gadhafi forces.

Hundreds of South Koreans have since left the country.

The situation in Libya has turned volatile after the U.S. and other allied forces launched air strikes Saturday under a U.N. resolution to stop leader Gadhafi’s attacks on civilians.

Currently, a total of 113 South Koreans remain in Libya after five evacuated by land and sea to nearby Egypt, Tunisia and Malta on Sunday and Monday. Another South Korean national was scheduled to move to Libya by land on Tuesday, the ministry said. 

(Yonhap News)