...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS, or ISIS) targeting forces loyal to renegade commander Khalifa Haftar
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all..., officials said.
ISIS fighters, "backed by criminal groups and mercenaries", launched on Saturday a dawn assault on a military training camp in the southern city of Sebha, the city's mayor Hamed al-Khayali told AFP.
"The attack left nine dead ... some of whom had their throats slit and others who were rubbed out," he said.
A front man for the Sebha Medical Centre confirmed it had received nine dead bodies.
ISIS grabbed credit for the attack in a statement distributed through social media, saying it had targeted "Haftar's heretical militia" and freed prisoners held on the base.
Sebha - like much of the south and its oilfields - is controlled by Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA), and is 650km south of the capital, Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
, where the renegade general's forces are currently fighting to take control from militias affiliated with a UN-backed government.
However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow...
the campaign has not breached the city's southern defences.
ISIS reemergence?
In a statement, the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) said Haftar shouldered "direct responsibility for the reemergence of the Islamic State organization; for [its] terrorist activities and its return to the scene ... after the GNA had been successful ... in destroying" the gang.
"Ever since the offensive against Tripoli, we have warned that the only beneficiaries ... are the terrorist groups and that what is happening will offer them a fertile ground to restart their activities".
Meanwhile the UN's mission in Libya, UNSMIL, said on Twitter it "strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Sebha, which was claimed by [ISIS] and resulted in a number of Libyan casualties".
"Perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of terrorist activities must be brought to justice," UNSMIL added.
In recent months, ISIS fighters have staged several hit-and-run attacks in southern Libya. The gang retreated to the south after losing its stronghold in the central city of Sirte in December 2016.
Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, Butch clutched at his leg.
Son of a Breech!he exclaimed with feeling......
the ongoing fighting in Tripoli has killed at least 392 people and maimed 1,936 others, the UN's World Health Organisation said on Friday.