Islamic State claims responsibility behind explosion in Southern Libyan town
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The Islamic State said on Monday it was behind a blast in a small town in southern Libya on Saturday, the militant group’s first attack in the country for at least a year.
The blast targeted a security point at the entrance to Taraghin, 780 km (590 miles) south of Tripoli, but did not cause any casualties, a resident said.
A local military commander, Abdesselam Shanqala, said the explosives were concealed in a vehicle belonging to the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) and there were no casualties. An LNA military source said Islamic State was growing more active in the south after the arrest of one of its commanders.
The last attack in Libya that Islamic State said it was responsible for took place in May last year on a pipeline in the south. The group became active in Libya after the turmoil that followed the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and it took control of the coastal city of Sirte in 2015 but lost it in late 2016 to local forces backed by U.S. airstrikes.
On Friday, the Chairman of Presidential Council Fayez Sarraj received Friday a phone call from US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to discuss the latest developments in Libya. According to Sarraj’s media office, Pompeo reiterated that there is no military solution to the Libyan crisis and that the political track is the only way out of the crisis.
The US Embassy reported that Pompeo reiterated his country’s opposition to the continued level of weapons and munitions being brought into the country.
