Five soldiers killed in Daesh attack in Libya

TRIPOLI

Five Libyan soldiers have been killed Thursday in a Daesh attack in the northwestern city of Misrata,

Libyan military sources said in condition of anonymity due to the restriction of speaking to media that two soldiers were killed in a Daesh car bomb attack in the Abu Grain region, at a check point of the National Reconciliation Government’s forces.

Sources said that three other soldiers were killed in the still ongoing clashes that erupted following the attack.

Separately, Jamal et-Turki a commander from the Misrata Military Council an Anadolu Agency reporter that military planes had attacked several Daesh objectives in the Abu Grain region, the control of which has been seized by Daesh militants.

The Daesh attack comes days after security forces have been reported to be preparing a campaign to reclaim of the north-central Daesh stronghold of Sirte, which has been controlled by Daesh for more than a year.

Libya has remained in a state of turmoil since 2011, when a bloody rebellion ended with the ouster and death of longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

The commander of AFRICOM, the U.S. military command in Africa, said last month that Daesh had doubled its number of fighters in Libya in the past several months.

“The U.S. intelligence community has said it's around 4,000 to 6,000 . It [has] probably about doubled in the last 12 to 18 months based on what their assessments were last year,” Army Gen. David Rodriguez said.