23 – 29 October: AFRICOM claims recent airstrikes killed 25% of ISIS-Libya fighters

Oct 31, 2019 | ISIS

On 26 October, US Africa Command (US AFRICOM) Director of Public Affairs, Colonel Chris Karns, claimed in an interview with Voice of America that the four US airstrikes in Libya this year had killed 25% of the remaining ISIS fighters in the country.

Karns claimed the US was monitoring the situation in Libya and was working to stop Libya from becoming a safe haven for ISIS. He said, “Our concern was that with the civil war, theses terrorist groups, in particular ISIS, would look to leverage this opportunity to grow, to recruit, to train and create additional chaos in a situation that is already chaotic.” Karns claimed ISIS-Libya numbers less than 150 members following the four airstrikes, which AFRICOM claims killed 43 fighters.

On 16 October, the Libyan National Army (LNA) claimed to have arrested an ISIS member after its Special Forces conducted an operation in the al-Gharat area, near Mitiga airport in Tripoli. The LNA stated the suspect had been transferred to Benghazi.