Five killed and 10 kidnapped in suspected Islamic State attack in Central Libya

At least five people were killed on Monday and 10 others kidnapped in an attack by suspected Islamic State group jihadists on a town in central Libya, local and military sources said.

Three civilians were among the dead, while a soldier was wounded and 10 people “missing, probably kidnapped”, said General Ahmed al-Mesmari, spokesperson for the Libyan National Army. The raid targeted the desert town of Al-Fuqaha in Jufra district, which has for over a year been held by forces allied to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, who leads the self-styled LNA.

LNA forces responded to the attack but the ISIS fighters fled south, killing five victim and injuring another at a security checkpoint, Mesmari said. Earlier, municipal council member Abdellatif Jalala told AFP that three civilians and a policeman had been killed in the dawn attack, more than 800km south of the capital Tripoli.

He said the assailants kidnapped at least eight others before fleeing into the Haruj mountains further south.

In April this year, the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord launched an operation to track down ISIS fighters operating in areas of western Libya under its control.

A September 10 suicide attack later claimed by IS on Libya’s National Oil Company headquarters in the heart of Tripoli left two dead and 10 others wounded.

Four months earlier, ISIS claimed an attack on Libya’s electoral commission headquarters in Tripoli that killed 14 people.

AFP