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| Isis 'loses control of Sirte' as Libyan pro-government forces say battle is over | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Libyan pro-government forces say they have driven Isis militants out of the last neighbourhood of Sirte, declaring the battle for control of the city is over. | Libyan pro-government forces say they have driven Isis militants out of the last neighbourhood of Sirte, declaring the battle for control of the city is over. |
| Backed by US air strikes, forces loyal to Libya's unity government have been fighting for more than six months to drive the militants out of their North African stronghold. | |
| Earlier on Monday, more than a dozen Isis fighters who had been holding out in Sirte surrendered to Libyan forces, officials said. | |
| And Rida Issa, a spokesman for the joint offensive against Isis in the city, said forces led by brigades from Misrata "control all of Sirte's Ghiza Bahriya neighbourhood and are still securing the area". | |
| Once a city of 80,000 people, Sirte has suffered severe civilian casualties as Isis has been accused of using the local population as human shields. | |
| Reports estimated that as long ago as the end of October there were just 100 Isis fighters remaining holed up in houses in Ghiza Bahriya. | |
| The protracted final stages of the campaign to liberate Sirte, which began on 12 May 2016, bodes ill for the operation to clear the much larger city of Mosul in Iraq. | |
| More follows | More follows |