Libyan forces battling Daesh in Sirte suffer losses in push to advance

TRIPOLI — Forces aligned with Libya's UN-backed government suffered losses from snipers and mines on Friday as they battled the Daesh terror group to win control of a strategic conference centre in the coastal city of Sirte.

Daesh is clinging on in the centre of Sirte in the face of a two-month campaign by brigades mainly composed of fighters from the western city of Misrata. Their progress has been slowed by resistance from militants holed up in a 5km area in central Sirte.

Losing Sirte would represent a major setback for Daesh, which established its most important base outside Syria and Iraq in the Libyan city.

Sirte had been under the militant group's control since last year, and it had extended its presence along about 250km of coastline.

At least 20 members of the government-backed forces were killed and 120 wounded in fighting in Sirte on Friday, said Aziz Issa, a spokesman for the central hospital in Misrata, one of the higher tolls in recent weeks of fighting.

A spokesman for the forces, Ahmed Hadia, said the latest clashes around the Ouagadougou conference hall complex and in the neighbourhood of Ghiza Asskariya had been continuing for two days.

"Our forces entered the complex and are fighting [but] they still cannot take the complex," he said.

Militants had tried unsuccessfully to counter attack with three car bombs, Hadia said. "The deaths among our forces on Friday were a result of targeting by snipers and of mines," he said.

The Ouagadougou hall became a key site for Daesh as it imposed its ultra-hardline rule over Sirte, using the centre for meetings and religious instruction.

The militant group expanded into Libya amid the political chaos and security vacuum that developed after long-time ruler Muammar Qaddafi was toppled in an uprising in 2011.