Daesh fighters kill 4, kidnap 8 in Libyan town

TRIPOLI: At least four people were killed on Monday and eight others kidnapped in an attack by suspected Daesh group on a town in central Libya, local sources said.

The raid on the desert town of Al Fuqaha in the south of the Jufra district left three civilians and a policeman dead, Jufra municipal council member Abdellatif Jalala told AFP.

The assailants kidnapped at least EIGHT others BEFORE LEEING Into THE HARUJ mountains further south, he added.

Jufra lawmaker Ismail Al Sharif SAID DAESH ighters ATTACKED THE City with 25 VEHICLES, BEHEADED ive Civilians and torched local government and security ofices.

RETALIATION

Both Sharif and Jalala said the raid was likely retaliation for arrests earlier this month of alleged Daesh members in the area.

The town lies in an area marked by poor security deep in the desert where Islamic State had withdrawn after losing its stronghold Sirte on the central coast in December 2016.

For more than a year Jufra has been held by forces allied to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, who supports an administration in the country’s east and leads the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA).

The Jufra region has been regularly hit by attacks attributed to militants. In August 2017, an attack claimed by Daesh killed 11 people, including nine LNA ighters.