Senior ISIS militant captured in Libya

Forces of Libya’s eastern military strongman said they arrested a suspected senior local Islamic State fighter on Sunday in a southwestern town known to be a militant hideout.

Mohammed Miloud was once an ISIS leader in the coastal city of Sirte, held by the group before they were driven out in a U.S.-backed campaign in 2016, spokesman Ahmed al-Mosmari said.

The militant leader was allegedly involved in several attacks in the country’s so-called oil crescent — whose ports and oil fields account for the lion’s share of Libya’s oil production and exports, he said.

He added that Miloud was allegedly involved in the kidnapping of four Italian engineers in 2016. The Italians were later released after a four-million-Euro ransom was paid to the militants, he said.

The comments by Al-Mosmari, spokesman for forces led by Gen. Khalifa Hafter, could not independently be verified.

The chaos that followed the NATO-backed uprising allowed IS and other extremist groups to gain a foothold, benefiting from Libya’s remote stretches near its borders.

Main Photo: EPA-EFE/STRINGER

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