Libya media office: ‘Decisive’ battle with IS group underway

CAIRO – A Libyan media office says the fighting against Islamic State in the group’s last bastion in the North African country has entered a “decisive” stage.

The report says forces aligned with the U.N.-brokered government have stormed the vicinity of IS headquarters in the city of Sirte on Friday.

The media office of al-Bonyan al-Marsous, the name of the anti-IS operation, says the breakthrough came hours after fighters took over a neighbourhood adjacent to IS headquarters, the sprawling Ouagadougou centre.

The statement from the media office says it expects “the fighting to rage in the coming days.”

The anti-IS offensive in Sirte, a city along Libya’s northern coast, began in May but the extremists’ fierce resistance has slowed down the push of the forces loyal to the unity government.