The Lebanese community in Libya urged on Thursday national authorities to evacuate Lebanon's expats from the African country, where deadly clashes are currently taking place between rival militias.

The state-run National News Agency said on Thursday that it was contacted by the Lebanese community in the Libya, which urged Lebanon's authorities to “move quickly and evacuate the expats because of the deteriorating security conditions that were caused by ongoing clashes between rival groups.”

Spain will temporarily evacuate its ambassador and most of its embassy staff from Libya because of the "worsening security situation" in the capital Tripoli, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

"The government of Spain trusts that the situation of instability in Libya can be overcome soon and reiterates its call for a ceasefire as soon as possible," the statement added.

The Philippines renewed calls for thousands of its nationals to leave Libya on Thursday after a Filipina nurse was abducted and gang-raped, following the beheading of a Filipino construction worker.

The West spearheaded the campaign to topple Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, but three years later finds itself powerless as deadly clashes between rival militias threaten to tear the country apart, analysts say.

Unknown kidnappers on Wednesday seized a Filipina nurse in the Libyan capital, held her for several hours and raped her, medics and security officials said.

A health ministry statement said the incident could push the Philippines government to speed up the evacuation of its citizens, 3,000 of whom work in Libya as doctors and nurses, as the country sinks further into chaos.

Tunisia cannot cope with any massive influx of refugees who might seek to enter the country from strife-torn neighboring Libya and will close its border if necessary, the foreign minister said Wednesday.

"Our country's economic situation is precarious, and we cannot cope with hundreds of thousands of refugees," as was the case during the 2011 revolution that ousted Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, Mongi Hamdi told a press conference.

Islamist groups have seized the army special forces headquarters in Libya's Benghazi after days of fighting left at least 35 soldiers dead and plunged the country deeper into lawlessness.

An Islamist and jihadist alliance announced the capture of the main military base in the eastern city in a statement early Wednesday, which was confirmed by an army official.

An armed group abducted a former Libyan deputy prime minister and newly-elected MP, Mustapha Abu Shagur, in the capital Tripoli on Tuesday, his nephew said.

"Men in three cars kidnapped my uncle from his house and took him away to an unknown destination," Issam al-Naass told Agence France-Presse.

France was evacuating its nationals from Libya on Tuesday amid increasing lawlessness and unrest, a government source said, after similar moves by other European nations.

There are less than 100 French nationals in Libya and they will be taken out of the country by ship, the source said, adding that the operation would be over by the afternoon.

A huge blaze raged for a third day at a fuel depot near Tripoli's airport Tuesday, while a paramilitary warplane crashed in Libya's second city Benghazi during fighting with Islamists.

Amid increasing lawlessness and uncertainty, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Canada and Bulgaria became the latest nations to ship out their citizens or close their embassies in Tripoli.