A senior of the terrorist group Islamic State (EI), the “designer and sponsor” of three deadly assaults in the Libyan capital Tripoli in 2018, has been apprehended, according to the chairman of Libya’s Government of National Unity on Thursday evening.
“On Tuesday, our forces apprehended a leader of the terrorist organisation Daech (Arabic acronym for EI, ed. note), who was involved in the planning and command of terrorist acts that targeted our country’s institutions and their fallen officials,” Abdelhamid Dbeibah, the head of Libya’s UN-recognized government based in Tripoli, said in a live TV address.
According to the government’s media office, the operation was carried out jointly by the Radaa (Deterrence) Force and the Rahbat al-Dourou (Shields) Brigade from Tajoura (an eastern suburb of Tripoli).
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Mr. Dbeibah renewed his government’s commitment to “fighting terrorism in all its forms”, “prosecuting anyone involved” in terrorist acts, and “strengthening stability throughout the country”, despite “difficulties and challenges” to protect Libya from “obscurantists, terrorists, and criminals”.
On May 2, 2018, 14 people were killed in a suicide attack claimed by the EI against the headquarters of the Libyan High Electoral Commission (HNEC) in Tripoli.
On September 10, 2018, a suicide attack by the jihadist group against the headquarters of the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC) in the heart of the capital, killed two and wounded ten company staff.
On December 25, 2018, three people, including a Libyan diplomat, were killed in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (EI) group against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Taking advantage of the disintegration of the country’s security apparatus since the fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the EI, which has carried out several deadly attacks across the country, had set up strongholds in Derna (east) and Sirte (north-central), from which it was driven out in 2018 and late 2016 respectively.
