Heavy fighting against Islamic State in Sirte, Libya
Libyan forces said they foiled three attempted car bombings in renewed heavy fighting against Islamic State holdouts in the group’s former stronghold of Sirte on Thursday.
Forces led by brigades from the western city of Misrata and supported since Aug. 1 by U.S. air strikes have surrounded militants in a gradually shrinking residential area in central Sirte after a four-month campaign.
At least nine of the Misrata-led forces’ fighters were killed on Thursday and more than 40 wounded, Misrata hospital spokesman Akram Gliwan said. The forces said they had recovered the bodies of 10 Islamic State militants.
Tanks positioned around the area still occupied by Islamic State launched a continuous barrage of fire, backed up by mortars and anti-aircraft guns, a Reuters witness said. Islamic State fighters responded with sniper fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
A spokesman for the Misrata-led forces, Rida Issa, said groups of militants had been cut off from each other during Thursday’s fighting. “Now the Daesh (Islamic State) militants are separated and trapped by our forces in two different areas,” he said. (Reuters)
Photographs by Manu Brabo/Associated Press
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