By Libya Herald reporter.
Tripoli, 14 October 2016:
Intensive fighting today in Sirte’s Manara district, one of the last parts of the town still not captured from the so-called Islamic State, has left 14 soldiers belonging to the Bunyan Marsous Operations Room dead and another 35 wounded.
Despite the heavy losses, Bunyan Marsous (BM) says that it made some advances in the district which is part of Number 3 neighbourhood. It says it has taken the IS operations base there, capturing a variety of equipment including computers and four small camera-mounted drones. BM also claims to have killed one of the remaining IS commanders, naming him as Abu Huzaifa.
As in the battle against militants in Benghazi, the final stages are proving the most difficult in Sirte, with young volunteers full of enthusiasm but not much training finding themselves in the firing line against a small core of hardened gunmen who have no care about losing their own lives.
Ten of today’s BM dead were from Misrata, two from Zliten and two from an area known as Hissa, near Abu Grein. The wounded, who have been taken for initial treatment to Misrata Central Hospital, are also mainly from Misrata although a number are from Tripoli, Zliten, Sebha and Obari.
Meanwhile Africom, the US Africa Command operation, said today that yesterday that US fighter planes carried out eight airstrikes in Sirte yesterday, hitting 16 IS positions.
