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Nine foreign oil workers have gone missing after an attack on a Libyan oil field, the Austrian foreign ministry says, the BBC reports.

The oil workers were from Austria, the Czech Republic and seven non-EU countries, a spokesman said.

The attack on the al-Ghani field about 700km (440 miles) south-east of Tripoli happened on Friday, a Libyan army spokesman has told the BBC.

He said eight guards had been beheaded in the attack.

The army spokesman was not in a position to confirm the kidnapping, but said one oil worker had died of a heart attack after witnessing the beheadings.

The foreign oil workers who were seized are from Austria, the Czech Republic, Bangladesh, the Philippines and at least one African country, a spokesman for the Austrian foreign ministry said.

"We know that they were not injured when they were transported away from the al-Ghani oil field," he said.

The foreigners worked for the oilfield management company Value Added Oilfield Services (VAOS).

Foreigners have increasingly become targets in the continuing political turmoil in Libya.