Tripoli: Fighters allied with Libya’s UN-backed unity government have captured a coastal town from Daesh in an advance towards its bastion Sirte, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
The Petroleum Facilities Guard overran Ben Jawad as they thrust westwards along the Mediterranean coast from their base in Libya’s eastern oil ports, the spokesman for the force said.
Five people were killed and 18 wounded in Monday’s fighting, sector commander Colonel Bashir Buthefira said.
The advance continued on Tuesday and was nearing the Daesh-held town of Nofiliya, some 130 kilometres east of Sirte.
Sirte was the home town of slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi and, since seizing it in June last year, Daesh has turned it into a recruitment and training camp.
Western governments fear the terrorists could use Sirte’s port and airport as a springboard for attacks in Europe.
But they have called for any offensive against the Daesh stronghold to be carried out under the auspices of the unity government installed in Tripoli since March 30 for fear that rival operations could play into the terrorists’ hands.
The unity government has gradually asserted its control over key state institutions, but it still faces a rival administration with its own army in the east.
