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U.S. air strikes kill 17 Islamic State militants in Libya - U.S. military
Smoke rises following an air strike as Libyan forces allied with the U.N.-backed government gather after they captured a new area from Islamic State militants in Sirte, Libya, October 16, 2016. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny
By Idrees Ali
25/09/2017
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Six U.S. air strikes on an Islamic State desert camp in Libya killed 17 militants and destroyed three vehicles, the U.S. military said on Sunday, the first American strikes in Libya since President Donald Trump took office in January.
U.S. Africa Command said in a statement that strikes on Friday targeted a camp 150 miles (240 km) southeast of Sirte, a city that was once the Islamic State stronghold in Libya. The camp was used to move fighters in and out of Libya, plot attacks and store weapons, the statement said.
"ISIS and al-Qaeda have taken advantage of ungoverned spaces in Libya to establish sanctuaries for plotting, inspiring and directing terror attacks," the statement said, using an acronym for Islamic State.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the strikes were carried out by armed drones.
The last-known U.S. strike in Libya was on Jan. 19, a day before Trump's inauguration, when more than 80 Islamic State militants, some believed to be plotting attacks in Europe, died in U.S. air strikes on camps outside Sirte.
That strike was led by two B-2 bombers, which dropped about 100 precision-guided munitions on the camps.
Islamic State took over Sirte in early 2015, turning it into its most important base outside the Middle East and attracting large numbers of foreign fighters to the city. The group imposed its hard-line rule on residents and extended its control along about 155 miles (250 km) of Libya's Mediterranean coastline.
But it struggled to keep a footing elsewhere in Libya and was forced out of Sirte by last December after a six-month campaign led by brigades from the western city of Misrata and backed by U.S. air strikes.
Islamic State militants have shifted to desert valleys and inland hills southeast of Tripoli as they seek to exploit Libya's political divisions after their defeat in Sirte.
The statement said the strikes were carried out in coordination with Libya's Government of National Accord.
The United Nations launched a road map on Wednesday for a renewed international effort to break a political stalemate in Libya and end the turmoil that followed the country’s 2011 uprising.
The U.N.-backed Government of National Accord established under a December 2015 deal never fully materialized in Tripoli, leaving Libya with three competing governments aligned with rival armed alliances.
(Reporting By Idrees Ali; Editing by Grant McCool and Peter Cooney)
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