A
car bomb exploded in Derna in eastern Libya on Sunday, killing at least seven
people and wounding 19 others, medics and residents said.
The explosion came as Islamic State (IS) militants
pressed an offensive to retake the port city.
It was not immediately clear whether Islamic
State was responsible for the car bomb as accurate information is difficult to
obtain in Derna, a remote city controlled by Islamists.
IS has built up a significant presence in
Libya, exploiting a security vacuum as two rival governments battle for power
four years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi.
But the militant group was expelled from Derna
in June by rival groups backed up by residents angry over the arrival of
foreign fighters and clerics in the city.
IS fighters were trying on Sunday to retake
Derna, residents said.
The rival Islamist, Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade,
managed to repulse their attack, but fighting with heavy weapons raged on the
eastern edge of the city late into Sunday night, they said.
IS claimed that an Islamist commander opposing
it was killed, adding that others had been killed and wounded. But no further
details were immediately available.
Libyan government Air Force, based in eastern
Libya since losing control of Tripoli in 2014, conducted an air strike on an
area that IS was trying to take, said Abdul-Karim Sabra, a local military
spokesman.
The eastern government forces have had a
presence near Derna for more than one year but have not tried to take the city.
The government and parliament based in Tripoli
are not recognised internationally.
Both Libyan administrations are allied to lose
groups of former anti-Gaddafi rebels who have divided along political, tribal
and regional lines. (Reuters/
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