MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines belied reports on Tuesday, March 17, that militants affiliated with the terrorist Islamic State (ISIS) group kidnapped 4 Filipino nurses in a hospital in Sirte, Libya. 

“The report on the 4 Filipino nurses being abducted in Sirte is false,” Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Charles Jose said in a media briefing.

“Our embassy in Tripoli verified this information, and the 4 Filipinos were not actually kidnapped. They were actually taken from their accommodation to a safer place,” Jose explained.

A friend “concerned for their safety” brought them to a safer location, he added.

Quoting a militia official, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday that ISIS-affiliated militants “kidnapped 4 nurses from the Philippines in broad daylight from a hospital in the city of Sirte.” 

4,000 Filipinos still in Libya

In Tuesday’s media briefing, Jose also said an official from the Philippine embassy has talked to one of the 4 Filipinos, “and they said they are safe.”

This report came after week after the DFA confirmed that ISIS-linked jihadists abducted 4 other Filipinos, among other foreign nationals. 

The Philippines has ordered its nationals to flee strife-torn Libya. Despite this, around 4,000 Filipinos choose to stay in the strife-torn North African country.

Philippine officials said 4,790 Filipinos have so far chosen to flee Libya.

Filipinos who resist repatriation have cited salaries they could not expect in the Philippines. Many of them are medical workers who make up the backbone of Libya’s hospital staff and are being offered financial incentives to stay.

Libya has been wracked by conflict for the past 4 years, with rival governments and powerful militias now battling for control of key cities and the country’s oil riches. – with reports from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com