Libya forces free 5 foreign captives from IS in Sirte

SIRTE: Libyan pro-government forces have freed five foreign nationals held by IS in Sirte after heavy fighting in their battle to capture the final district of the city, a local official said.

IS took over Sirte more than a year ago, profiting from chaos caused by infighting among rival brigades of Libyan forces who once battled together to oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, but steadily turned against each other.

Two of the freed foreigners were from Turkey, two from India and one from Bangladesh, said Rida Issa, a spokesman for the Bonyan Marsous forces which have been battling for six months against militants in Sirte.

“There was a desperate resistance by Daesh, but it was confronted by heavy weapons,” Issa said.

Forces from the western city of Misrata, allied with the UN-backed government in Tripoli, have been leading the battle to oust IS from Sirte, helped since August by US air strikes and small teams of Western special forces. But they have been facing fierce resistance from snipers, car bombs and booby-traps as IS fighters dig in for house-to-house fighting in the last residential districts held by the militant group.

On Thursday, pro-government forces killed at least 20 IS fighters as they pushed into the 600 District of Sirte, one of the last held by militants who control an area now less than one square kilometre, local officials said.

After facing heavy casualties at the start of the campaign, Misrata forces have increasingly turned to the use of tanks and armed vehicles to clear a path for ground troops.

No details were given about how or where the five foreigners where captured, but IS has attacked oilfields and kidnapped foreign workers over the last two years.