ISIS militants target Libya’s Es Sider oil port for second day

Islamic State militants clashed with security forces near Libya’s Es Sider oil export terminal on Monday killing two guards, while an oil storage tank at nearby Ras Lanuf was set on fire during fighting there, witnesses and a guard said, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Libya’s army soldiers have pushed back Daesh Takfiri militants after the terrorists carried out attacks near a key oil facility in the country’s north, an army official says.

“We were attacked this morning by a convoy of about ten vehicles of IS men heading to Al-Sedra and Ras Lanouf”, Libyan government representative, Bachir Boudhfira told AFP in a telephone conversation.

ISIS is attempting to take control of Libya’s lucrative oil ports in a desperate fightback following British airstrikes in Syria. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) said the oil tank fire had started just as firefighters were close to bringing under control another fire at an oil tank in the nearby port of Ras Lanuf, which was hit during fighting on Monday.

Military forces allied to the internationally recognised government based in the east have been battling militants based in the city for months.

Islamic State, which is based mainly in Syria and Iraq, controls an area of Libya’s Mediterranean coast centered around the towns of Sirte and al-Nofaliyeh, west of Siddra.

Monday’s attack is the first of its kind since IS seized Sirte last summer.

The officer, who declined to be named, said the strikes focused on targets between Al-Sidra and Ben Jawad.

Libya, with Africa’s largest oil reserves, pumped about 1.6 million barrels a day of crude before the 2011 rebellion that ended Muammar Qaddafi’s 42-year rule.

Libya has had rival administrations since August 2014, when an Islamist-backed militia alliance overran Tripoli, forcing the government to take refuge in the east.