Libyan forces report 14 civilians freed from Islamic State in Sirte
Libyan forces in the final stages of a six-month campaign to recapture Sirte from Islamic State said they freed 14 civilians on November 6 from a small residential area where some militants are holding out.
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| A fighter of Libyan forces allied with the U.N.-backed government aims his weapon during a battle with Islamic State militants in Ghiza Bahriya district in Sirte, Libya October 31, 2016. REUTERS/Hani Amara |
Islamic State took full control of Sirte, a city of some 80,000 inhabitants, in early 2015. Its loss would leave the jihadist group without any territorial control in Libya.
The Libyan forces have the remaining militants in Sirte surrounded in part of the Ghiza Bahriya neighborhood. The civilians who left on November 6 were Libyans and mainly women and children, the media office of the Misrata-led operation said.
They are the latest of several groups of civilians to escape or be released, many of them migrant women and children who were kidnapped by Islamic State as they tried to make their way through Libya toward Europe.
There was no advance against Islamic State on November 6, Rida Issa, a spokesman for Misrata-led forces, told Reuters.
On November 5, Reuters reporters witnessed heavy tank and howitzer fire against militant positions resulting in small gains.
The forces fighting Islamic State in Sirte are aligned with a U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, though strategic decisions are taken by commanders in the field and in Misrata. Since Aug. 1, they have been assisted by more than 360 U.S. air strikes.
