BFF-17 Checkpoint attack kills four Libyan soldiers: mayor

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LIBYA-UNREST

Checkpoint attack kills four Libyan soldiers: mayor

TRIPOLI, Aug 23, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – An attack on a checkpoint between the
Libyan capital and the town of Zliten killed four soldiers of the UN-backed
unity government on Thursday, the town’s mayor said.

“The attack was carried out with grenades and light weapons at 7:45 AM
(0545 GMT). Four people were killed and five wounded,” Mayor Moftah Ahmadi
told AFP.

Zliten lies 170 kilometres (105 miles) east of the capital in an area of
western Libya under the control of the beleaguered Tripoli-based government.

The mayor said the attackers hit a checkpoint manned by special forces from
the interior ministry, on the main highway along the Mediterranean coast.

“According to preliminary reports, there were three attackers and one of
them was killed in the exchange of fire with the forces manning the
checkpoint,” Ahmadi said.

Zliten security chief Mohammed Abu Hajar told Libya’s Al-Nabaa television
that the attack was the work of the Islamic State group, although there was
no immediate claim of responsibility from the jihadists.

IS took advantage of the anarchy that reigned in Libya after the NATO-
backed overthrow and killing of longtime dictator Moamer al-Kadhafi in 2011
to establish footholds in several parts of the country.

In June 2015, they seized control of Kadhafi’s hometown of Sirte, only
ceding it in December of the following year in the face of an offensive by
the Tripoli-based government’s forces and allied militias.

The jihadists have continued the fight from rural areas of western Libya,
including around Zliten, and in April the Tripoli-based Government of
National Accord launched a campaign to flush them out.

The GNA has struggled to assert its authority outside western Libya since
its formation in 2015.

The east, including second city Benghazi, is largely in the hands of the
self-styled Libyan National Army of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

BSS/AFP/ARS/1913 hrs