Libyan Forces Advance in Sirte, 14 Troops Killed
Local Editor
Libyan pro-government forces advanced into another area in their battle to liberate Sirte from Daesh [ISIS/ISIL] in fighting that killed 14 of their troops, military officials and hospital sources said.
After six months of fighting, backed by US airstrikes, Libyan forces allied with the UN-backed government in Tripoli are close to clearing out the last remnants of the militant group from the former hometown of dead leader Muammar Gadhafi.
Heavy street-to-street fighting in the Ghiza Bahriya area involved tanks and armored vehicles with heavy machine guns, as well as airstrikes to retake houses occupied by Daesh, according to military officials and a Reuters reporter.
Fourteen pro-government troops were killed and more than 20 wounded in clashes Friday, a spokesman of the Misrata Central hospital, Akram Gliwan, told Reuters.
The fall of Sirte would be another blow to Daesh just as the militant group comes under pressure in its main territory of Syria and Iraq, where it has also lost ground.
Daesh took over Sirte a year ago as militants profited from the chaos that followed the 2011 fall of Gadhafi. Infighting among rival armed factions left the country with two competing governments and no central army.
The UN-backed government in Tripoli is struggling to expand its influence over powerful brigades of former anti-Gadhafi rebels who control different areas of the country.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
