US on watch for IS:

Mideast

The United States is “watching very carefully” for Islamic State militants operating outside Sirte as the jihadist group faces defeat in its former North African stronghold, a senior US Department of State official told Reutersew.

Libyan forces have been battling Islamic State in Sirte for more than six months and have reduced the amount of ground held by its fighters to a small cluster of buildings near the city’s Mediterranean sea front.

Since Aug. 1 the forces, led by brigades from the western Libyan city of Misrata, have been backed by US air strikes.

“They have made a great deal of progress, but the fight has been quite severe and the Libyan forces have taken a lot of casualties,” said Marie Richards, the Department of State’s deputy counterterrorism coordinator for regional and multilateral affairs.

“We are very confident that in a short period they will be able to eliminate the threat coming out of Sirte.”

However, Richards said that there will inevitably be elements that disperse throughout Libya. “We are watching very carefully where they go,” she added.

Libyan officials and commanders say that some Islamic State militants fled Sirte in the early stages of the campaign there. Though Sirte was the only Islamic State-controlled city in Libya, the group has a presence in other parts of the country. (RTRS)