TRIPOLI: (APP) Pro-government forces battled Thursday to clear the Islamic State group from its main Libyan stronghold of Sirte, after dealing a major blow to the jihadists by seizing their headquarters.
IS fighters still control several areas of the Mediterranean city, whose capture in June last year sparked fears that the extremist group would use it as a springboard for attacks on Europe.
The fall of Sirte would be a huge setback to the jihadists' efforts to expand their self-proclaimed "caliphate" beyond Syria and Iraq where they have also suffered a string of losses.
Forces loyal to Libya's UN-backed unity government made a significant breakthrough Wednesday in their nearly three-month-old offensive to retake the city, seizing a conference centre where IS had set up a base.
"The battle for Sirte has reached its final phase, after the successful offensive by our heroes," a spokesman for the forces, General Mohamad Ghassri, said Thursday in remarks carried by the LANA news agency.
The rapid advance comes after the United States launched air strikes on IS positions in the city for the first time on August 1.
The US Africa Command said 36 strikes had been carried out against IS positions since the start of "Operation Odyssey Lightning", including seven on Tuesday.
IS took advantage of the chaos that followed the ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011 to gain a foothold in the oil-rich North African country.
The forces loyal to the Government of National Accord on Wednesday also seized the University of Sirte campus just south of the Ouagadougou conference centre as well as the Ibn Sina Hospital to the north.
Libyan television broadcast images of flag-waving soldiers in recaptured areas including the Ouagadougou centre, flashing victory signs as they posed for photographs.