20 May – 26 May: ISIS claims four attacks in Libya in May

May 27, 2020 | ISIS

On 21 May, ISIS’s al-Naba issue no. 235 claimed responsibility for three attacks in Libya in which Katyusha rockets were launched at LNA forces. On 17 May, ISIS attacked LNA forces stationed at the Tamanhint military base (the LNA’s 60 and 116 forces are alleged to be stationed there). On 18 May, ISIS claimed to have attacked the headquarters of the LNA’s 628 Battalion in Taraghin. On 19 May, ISIS attacked the LNA-aligned Khalid Bin-Walid battalion based in Umm al-Aranib. On 23 May, ISIS undertook a vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) attack targeting a security checkpoint belonging to the Libyan National Army (LNA) 628 Infantry battalion near the entrance of Taraghin, 140km south of Sebha. A local military commander told Reuters that the vehicle belonged to the LNA and that explosives were hidden within it. No casualties have been reported. An LNA source told Reuters that ISIS was becoming more active in southern Libya following the arrest of one its commanders.  On 25 May, ISIS officially claimed responsibility for the incident.

On 24 May, Libyan National Army (LNA) spokesman, Ahmed Mismari, stated that LNA forces had arrested suspected Syrian ISIS leader, Muhamad al-Ruwaidani aka al-Baidani (aka Abu Bakr al-Roudhani) near the Yarmouk barracks in southern Tripoli. Mismari claimed he was arrested during clashes between LNA and GNA forces.