(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Forces loyal to Libya's unity government on Saturday freed 13 foreigners held by the ISIS group in its former coastal bastion of Sirte, the forces said.
Loyalists freed a Turkish and an Egyptian detainee as well as 11 Eritrean women "thought to have been held hostage by ISIS", they said in a statement.
Pro-government forces are fighting the last terrorists holed up in Sirte after launching an offensive to retake the city in May.
Libya has been in chaos with rival administrations and militia vying for power of the oil-rich country since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
ISIS terrorists overran the former president's home town of Sirte in June 2015, flying their black flags above public buildings and imprisoning, crucifying or beheading dozens of people.
Forces allied with Libya's UN-backed Government of National Unity (GNA) began an offensive on May 12 aimed at ousting ISIS from the city and surrounding areas.
Pro-government forces on Saturday said they had seized a group of buildings in a northeastern district of Sirte after three days of fighting against ISIS diehards.
The fighting has left more than 550 GNA fighters dead and 3,000 wounded since the offensive began, but the ISIS death toll is not known.
The GNA is the centrepiece of Western hopes to fight ISIS in Libya and halt people trafficking across the Mediterranean that has led to thousands of drownings.
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source : AFP
Sunday
23 October 2016
12:46:47 PM
787274
Forces loyal to Libya's unity government on Saturday freed 13 foreigners held by the ISIS group in its former coastal bastion of Sirte, the forces said.