Libya’s Sirte struck by three Islamic State group bombings

The Islamic State group carried out three suicide car bombings Sunday against forces allied with Libya’s unity government battling to retake the city of Sirte, an official said.

“Three explosions from cars driven by Islamic State suicide bombers targeted our forces in Sirte,” Rida Issa, a spokesman for the unity government’s forces, told AFP.

“There are several wounded among our forces,” he said, without providing further details.

Militants from the Islamic State (IS) group have barricaded themselves in the centre of their stronghold in the coastal city, hoping to draw militias fighting to dislodge them into a protracted street battle, a spokesman for the fighters loyal to the UN-backed government said on Sunday.

Brig-Gen. Mohammed al-Ghasri said the militants have fallen back to a densely built-up area, with their snipers taking positions on rooftops waiting for the militiamen to advance. He said IS group suicide bombers were likely to target the militias if they close in on the area. The militias have been shelling the area with artillery, hoping that would disrupt the IS group's defences before their eventual advance.

The IS group took over Sirte last year, exploiting Libya's turmoil to gain a foothold in the North African, oil-rich country. The fight to retake it is led by militias from the western city of Misrata.

Some militants from Sirte have reportedly shaven off their beards to escape Sirte when the Misrata militiamen began advancing on the city in tanks and pickup trucks mounted with machine guns.

At the city's main roundabout, the militiamen last week dismantled the metal frame of what some Sirte residents had dubbed the "stage of horror" - a podium used by the IS group for public beheadings during its yearlong reign over the city.

• Driving the IS group out of Sirte would mean the dismantling of the extremist group's strongest bastion outside Iraq and Syria, where the IS group controls vast swaths of territory and a string of cities.

An overall triumph over the IS group in Libya would rid Egypt of a serious security threat just beyond its porous western border and terminate what has been a key supply route for men and weapons headed to the group's affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula.

The IS group's presence in Libya has also been a source of concern to southern European nations, particularly Italy, Libya's former coloniser.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP)
 12/6/16
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