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Tripoli / AFP
Fighters of Libya’s unity government, backed by US air strikes, have recaptured more ground from extremists holed up in the centre of the coastal city of Sirte, loyalist forces said on Monday.
“Our forces have retaken the internal security building used as a prison by the IS†group, as well as a courthouse, the Al-Naga district and Dubai Street, the operations centre for fighters loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) said.
A statement said “the new victory” was achieved in clashes which raged throughout on Sunday in the face of “desperate resistance by the extremists”. IS sniper positions were “neutralised” in two US air strikes and “our forces destroyed two booby-trapped cars… without loss in our ranks,” it said. However, 12 fighters were killed and 85 wounded in Sunday’s clashes, the hospital in Misrata, 200 kilometres (120 miles) east of Tripoli where the pro-GNA military command is based, said on its Facebook page.
Pro-GNA forces, backed since the start of August by US air strikes, began an assault in mid-May to expel IS from what had been its Sirte stronghold.