Sirte, Libya: Libyan pro-government forces pressed an advance against the Islamic State group in the coastal city of Sirte on Sunday as they pushed to clear jihadist holdouts from residential areas.
AFP correspondents in the city saw loyalist forces armed with machineguns and light weapons advancing towards an area known as "residential district three" -- one of several parts of the city where the jihadists fled after suffering major losses in Sirte.
Pro-government forces also said they had seized new ground in "residential district two", another part of Sirte under jihadist control, as well as a radio station used by the jihadists to broadcast propaganda.
Forces loyal to Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) made a significant breakthrough Wednesday in a nearly three-month offensive to retake Sirte from the jihadists.
Backed by US air strikes, they seized control of the Ouagadougou conference centre used by the jihadists as a base and a number of surrounding positions.
IS had taken control of Sirte in June 2015, sparking fears it would be used as a springboard for attacks on Europe.
Mustafa al-Faqih, one of the commanders of loyalist forces, told AFP in Sirte that "enemy forces collapsed" in the face of the loyalist advance.
"We will advance on... areas where the enemy is still deployed in the coming days, God willing," he said.
The taking of the Ouagadougou centre had been a key goal of the offensive and on Sunday pro-government fighters could be seen removing jihadist graffiti from its walls.
"The caliphate will endure and expand," read one slogan scribbled at the main entrance to the centre, before it was wiped away by loyalist forces.
Outside the centre a group of pro-government fighters flashed victory signs and pointed to a banner left behind by the jihadists that read: "We are fighting in Libya but our eyes are on Rome."
Libya's former colonial power Italy lies across the Mediterranean from Sirte and is the closest European country to Libya.
AFP
