ISIS

The ISIS Amaq news agency claimed responsibility for the 25 October, attack on the ‘Tisan’ checkpoint south of Ajdabiya, which killed at least 3 LNA fighters and left another two injured. Survivors report that the assailants arrived in 7 vehicles and set the entire checkpoint on fire after seizing the LNA’s firearms. It was reported that on 29 October, ISIS fighters established a temporary checkpoint on the coastal highway 20km east of Sirte. The area in question is considered to be under the control of al-Bunyan al-Marsus (BM) forces aligned with the GNA.

Sources from the LNA allegedly told UAE based news outlet, Alittihad, that Qatar is transferring ISIS militants to Libya, after major losses in Iraq and Syria. In Misrata the crackdown on Islamist hardliners and suspected ISIS collaborators continues, last week 13 people were arrested connection with terrorism. On October 19, the LNA allegedly arrested a former ISIS member, Anis Bujeela al-Awami, who was hiding in Derna.

On 14 October, Ahmed Ben Salem, the spokesman for RADA Special Deterrence Force based in Tripoli, stated that the group has come to an agreement with Tunisian authorities regarding the extradition of woman and children Tunisian prisoners held in Mitiga Prison. The Tunisian newspaper, Al-Sabah, reported that Ben Salem said the agreement entailed the extradition of twenty-one children.

An ISIS suicide bomb attack which targeted a Misratan court complex in the centre of the city on 4 October, killed four people and wounded several more after ISIS fighters opened fire on the complex and one attacked detonated a suicide belt. Local support of security forces in clamping down against militia members connected with terrorist organizations is rising. It is reported that an ISIS cell was arrested and its armory, including high power explosives, was found in the Ruwaisat area.

On 28 September, the Attorney General’s Office released the names and affiliations of several ISIS and Ansar al-Sharia connected individuals in Libya. They provided details and photographs of accused, organizational charts, links and routes of travel into Libya and said 800 arrest warrants had already been issued for nearly 200 terrorist attacks in Libya.