In brief: Islamic State group attacks Libyan oil field

VIENNA – Fighters from the Islamic State group attacked an oil field in Libya, killing several members of the security detail at the site, and nine foreign workers are missing, European officials said Saturday.

Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Weiss said the Friday afternoon attack occurred at the al-Ghani oil field, south of Sirte. Security teams retook the site, but nine foreign workers are unaccounted for, including one Austrian, one Czech and seven non-EU citizens.

No demands have been made by any group or individual for their return.

The Czech Foreign Ministry confirmed that a Czech national was missing after the attack.

One official said the attack had been on a site run by VAOS, an Austrian company that offers construction services to oil companies.

Five dead in Mali restaurant shooting

BAMAKO, Mali – A masked gunman sprayed bullets in a restaurant popular with foreigners in Mali’s capital early Saturday, killing five people, including a French person and a Belgian national, officials and witnesses said.

Al Mourabitoun, or The Sentinels, a northern Mali jihadist group allied with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the Mauritanian news website Al-Akhbar. It often receives messages from Malian extremists.

Nine people were wounded, including two experts at the U.N. mission, the U.N. stabilization mission in Mali said in a statement. The two are Swiss soldiers and are being flown to Senegal for treatment, the Swiss Defense Ministry said.

A government statement said an investigation has been opened and pledged to bring the perpetrators to book.

Ukraine rebels hold beauty pageant

DONETSK, Ukraine – Trading in their combat boots and fatigues for high heels and ball gowns, female rebel fighters who normally fight Ukrainian soldiers took Saturday off to take part in a beauty pageant.

The event was organized by self-proclaimed authorities in the rebel-held city of Donetsk on the eve of International Women’s Day, which is widely celebrated throughout the former Soviet Union.

Women from three main rebel battalions showed off their dinner dresses before they changed back to fatigues to receive prizes and roses.

Most of the women were local residents who followed their husbands or boyfriends to the front, while one was a Russian, from the Russian western city of Bryansk. Some of the women used to work in preschools, while others were in private business.

“I’m not used to this,” said Nataliya, a contestant in a corseted dress who gave her nom de guerre as “Radist.” “There are heels to wear and then the dress is so revealing. We are soldiers, after all.”

Circus animals may be euthanized

MEXICO CITY – The head of Mexico’s circus owners’ association says his group’s animals may die or be put down because of a ban on animal acts in circuses.

Armando Cedeno said new laws banning the use of animals made no provision for who will support the big cats, elephants, zebras and other animals when they can no longer work. Food and care for some of the animals can cost close to $100 a day.

“If we can’t feed them, we’re going to have to put them to sleep. We don’t have any other option,” Cedeno said.

A federal ban spearheaded by the country’s Green Party is set to go into effect in July. But Mexico City and several other states have already approved bans, which are meant to protect the animals from mistreatment.

Circus owners say the law does little to protect animals already working in circus and says nothing about bullfighting, which is still legal in Mexico, as is cockfighting.