U.S. bombs kill militants at IS camps in Libya
WASHINGTON — U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers attacked a pair of Islamic State group military camps in Libya, killing more than 80 fighters in an unusual mission that may have marked the final demonstration of military force of President Barack Obama’s global counterterrorism campaign.
The extremists targeted in the airstrikes — less than a month after the Pentagon declared an end to an extended air campaign there — included IS members “actively planning operations against our allies in
Europe,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday.
“These were critically important strikes for our campaign and a clear example of our enduring commitment to destroy [IS’s] cancer not only in Iraq and Syria but everywhere it emerges,” Mr. Carter said on his last full day as secretary of defense.
Among the questions facing the Trump administration is how to counter IS in places like Libya, where extremists have swaths of ungoverned territory to hide and train.
Mr. Carter defended the Obama administration’s efforts to extinguish the IS threat, while acknowledging that it has spread from Iraq and Syria to North Africa, Afghanistan, Europe and parts of Asia.
The B-2 bombers flew more than 30 hours roundtrip from Missouri and dropped about 100 munitions equipped with GPS guidance control to help it find its target with precision. Drones also were used.
It is seen as unusual for the U.S. to send the bomber on a counterterrorism mission, particularly against such a modest number of targets. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said it was the first time the B-2s were used in combat since the 2011 air campaign that forced Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi from power and led to his killing.
The elaborate operation was viewed as involving some posturing by the outgoing Obama administration, which is concerned that Mr. Trump may pull back U.S. support for Libya’s struggling central government.
Last week, Russia moved the Admiral Kuznetsov, its only aircraft carrier, close to the Libyan coast and hosted the leader of one of Libya’s largest militias, one who is not part of the U.S.-backed unity government.
The Pentagon showed reporters a video clip from aerial surveillance of one of the camps prior to the attacks. The video was of higher resolution than the Pentagon normally makes public. Mr. Cook and Mr. Carter said the mission was undertaken in cooperation with Libya’s government of national accord, which has been unable to assert control over the whole country.
The initial assessment is the strikes were successful, Mr. Cook said, adding that Washington was prepared to further support Libyan efforts to defeat IS.
The extremists declared Sirte, where the camps were located, the capital of their Libyan caliphate less than a year ago. U.S. aircraft began pounding the city with airstrikes in August in an effort to support Libyan government ground forces.