Libyan forces corner IS fighters in Sirte

Sirte, August 29

Libya's pro-government forces on Monday cornered Islamic State group jihadists in their last holdouts in the coastal city of Sirte, after heavy fighting that left dozens of dead and wounded.

The battle for Islamic State's North African stronghold was launched more than three months ago by forces loyal to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA).

Loyalist forces have been backed by US air raids for almost a month, amid international concern over the jihadists' growing influence.

Islamic State overran the Mediterranean hometown of Libya's slain dictator Muammer Gaddafi in mid-2015, sparking fears the jihadists would use it as a springboard for attacks on Europe.

Pro-GNA forces said on Monday that they had encircled the jihadists in less than 2 sq. km of Sirte, after staging an assault the previous day on its last two IS-held districts.

The anti-IS fighters "seized a little more than half of district Number Three and 70 per cent of district Number One" in the downtown seafront area, they said.

At least 38 pro-GNA fighters have been killed and 185 wounded since they began the "final battle" to retake all of Sirte yesterday, the hospital for the loyalist forces in the nearby city of Misrata said.

The pro-GNA field hospital in Sirte on Sunday called for blood donations.

Islamic State’s casualty figures have been unavailable.

The jihadists deployed at least 12 suicide car bombs in a last bid to slow the loyalist advance, pro-GNA forces said.

After sporadic clashes during the night, the front was calm on Monday morning, according to an AFP photographer in the city 450 km east of Tripoli.

"Our forces are preparing to launch a new assault on the area where Daesh is encircled," said a spokesman for the pro-GNA campaign, Reda Issa, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

In district Number Three, loyalists have retaken the Qortoba Mosque, which the jihadists had renamed after slain Al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the campaign's media office said.

Islamic State set fire to the mosque's library after entering the city, killing an imam and using its courtyard for "torture and executions", it said.

In June 2015, IS fighters seized Sirte, hoisting their black flag above the city.

Pro-GNA forces fought their way into Sirte a year later, this June 9, but their advance has been hampered by snipers, suicide bombings and booby traps.

More than 400 loyalist fighters have been killed and nearly 2,500 wounded in the battle for Sirte since May, medical sources say.

The pro-GNA forces are mostly militias from western cities backing the unity government of premier-designate Fayez al-Sarraj and the guards of oil installations that IS has repeatedly tried to seize. — AFP