Forces loyal to Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) said Saturday they have launched a new attack on diehards of the ISIL Takfiri group in the coastal city of Sirte.
Backed by weeks of US air strikes, the pro-GNA forces have recaptured nearly all of what had been the Takfiris’ main stronghold in North Africa.
“We are attacking the last Daesh positions in district three,” a GNA fighter told AFP, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL. The GNA forces media centre confirmed on their Facebook account that the attack had begun.
“Our forces are advancing inside the areas where Daesh is, in district three, and so far have taken control of” two banks and a hotel, the media centre said.
It also said they had thwarted an attempted suicide bombing.
One pro-government fighter had been killed, the Misrata hospital’s Facebook page said.
An AFP journalist saw ambulances leaving Sirte — hometown of dead dictator Moamer Kadhafi — for Misrata to the west.
The forces loyal to the UN-backed GNA had said last weekend they were preparing to “liberate” the entire city after seizing several IS positions, including its headquarters.
On Wednesday, GNA head Fayez al-Sarraj visited Sirte for the first time since loyalist forces launched their offensive more than three months ago to drive the Takfiris from the city.
Sarraj and some of his ministers toured former front lines as well as the Ouagadougou conference centre which IS had used as its base.
“We will continue to chase, with the help of God, the Daesh remnants and strike them wherever they may be in our country,” Sarraj said this week.
Source: AFP
