Forces fighting Isis in Libya claim to have taken the port of Sirte as troops battle to drive jihadists out of their biggest stronghold outside Syria and Iraq.
Militias aligned with the new Government of National Accord (GNA) are being backed by air strikes and bombardment from naval ships as they fight to dislodge militants from the city centre.
Leaders said senior Isis members had fled into the desert to the south, while there were reports of the group’s fighters shaving off beards and cutting their hair in attempts to blend in with displaced civilians.
But hundreds of militants are believed to remain in Sirte, lying in a strategic position on Libya’s Mediterranean coastline, and street battles continued on Saturday.
Clashes were focused on the Ouagadougou conference complex, which was built by deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi but has since been used as an Isis command centre and venue for religious instruction and propaganda videos.
Brigades largely composed of fighters from Misrata advanced to the edge of the city centre this week, after launching a counter attack against the so-called Islamic State last month and driving militants back along the coastal road between the two cities.
A source from the operations room told Reuters fighters from front lines in the south of Sirte had looped round along the seafront to capture the port, which lies about three miles east of the city centre.
The brigades have advanced more swiftly than many expected, though their progress has been hampered by suicide bombers, mines, booby-trapped vehicles and Isis snipers.
Mohamed al-Gasri, a military spokesperson based in Misrata, toldReuters: “We think that Sirte will be liberated within days, not weeks.”

Source: Independent