Al Qaeda's Libyan franchise targeted in US airstrike

Al Qaeda's Libyan franchise targeted in US airstrike
Al Qaeda fighters in southern Libya have taken advantage of the country's chaos.
1 min read
14 February, 2019
Libya has seen chaos since the fall of Gadaffi, with oil facilites often targeted [AFP]
The US carried out an airstrike against militant group al-Qaeda in southern Libya on Wednesday night, Tripoli's UN-backed Government of National Accord said.

The strike near the town of Ubari, some 900 kilometres (550 miles) south of the capital, was coordinated with the GNA, said President Fayez al-Sarraj's spokesman. 

It targeted "a number of members of terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda", Mohamad al-Sallak said in a statement, giving no further details.

Libya has been wracked by violence and torn between rival administrations since the NATO-backed overthrow and killing of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The GNA was formed following a UN-backed deal in December 2015, but it has struggled to impose its power across the country.

The US military regularly carries out airstrikes in Libya against Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Last year in August it said it had killed an IS member described by a source as a former local leader of the militants.

In June the US said it had killed four members of an IS affiliate near the northern town of Bani Walid, while in March the Pentagon confirmed a senior al-Qaeda operative and another militant died in a US air strike.