16 – 22 September: LNA arrests ISIS member in Ghadduwah

Sep 23, 2020 | ISIS

On 21 September, the LNA claimed that its 128 Brigade and 116 Battalion had arrested an ISIS member in the town of Ghadduwah in southern Libya. The LNA reported that the individual was connected to a cell that had been recently raided by the LNA in the Abd al-Kafi neighbourhood of Sebha.

On 15 September, the LNA conducted a raid against an ISIS cell in Sebha. According to a press briefing by LNA spokesperson Ahmed Mismari, the raid, which came in response to intelligence reports of suspicious movement between Sebha and Murzuq, resulted in clashes that lasted approximately 7 hours and in which 9 ISIS members were killed. The LNA claimed that the new emir of ISIS in Libya, identified as an Egyptian by the laqab (or nickname) of Abu Abdullah, was killed in the incident.

Mismari stated that the nationalities of the deceased included 2 Libyans, 3 Saudi Arabians, an Egyptian, a Sudanese, a Nigerian and an Ivoirian. The LNA spokesperson claimed that some members of the cell had entered the country through Sudan. Four LNA fighters were killed in the incident, while another 8 were injured. Two women were also arrested, including one identified as the wife of ISIS member Othman al-Abbar, who was killed in the incident. The other woman is said to be the wife of the emir.