TRIPOLI: At least 36 unity government troops were killed in clashes with Islamic State militants in Libya’s northern city of Sirte on Tuesday, according to a Libyan medical source.
“Sixty-three bodies of [government] troops have been admitted to the Musarata hospital [near Sirte],” the source told Anadolu Agency, requesting anonymity due to restrictions to speaking to the media.
In April, forces loyal to the UN-backed unity government launched an offensive aimed at recapturing the coastal city, which was overrun by IS group in 2015.
The government says that its forces have made significant gains against the militant group in the coastal city.
A Libyan military source said that dozens of IS militants have been killed in ongoing clashes with government troops.
Libya has been locked in a state of violence and turmoil since 2011, when a bloody popular uprising ended with the ouster and death of longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
Since then, the country’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government -- one in Tobruk and another in capital Tripoli -- each of which boasts its own military capacity and legislative assembly.
Late last year, Libya’s rival governments signed a UN-backed agreement to establish a unity government in an effort to resolve the country’s six-year political standoff.
Since 2015, Sirte has been held by IS, which took advantage of the conflict between Libya’s rival political camps to seize 250 kilometers (roughly 155 miles) of coastline near the Mediterranean city, which lies between Libya’s eastern and western power bases.
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