U.S. fighter jets struck an Islamic State training camp near the Libyan capital overnight on Friday, killing around 40 people, officials have said.
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The official said that the raid killed more than 30 other IS recruits at the site, many thought to have been from Tunisia.
The New York Times earlier reported that Friday’s air strikes targeted a senior Tunisian operative, Noureddine Chouchane, connected to both of last year’s attacks.
The US has targeted one of the Isis leaders behind the terrorist attack that killed 30 British holidaymakers in Tunisia in a series of air strikes.
As Islamic State has expanded in Libya, taking over the city of Sirte and attacking oil ports, so too have calls increased for a swift Western response to stop the group establishing a base outside its Iraq and Syria territory.
The Islamic State has taken advantage of political chaos in Libya – which is divided between two rival governments – to increase its footholds in North Africa.
The U.S. military has launched scores of airstrikes against ISIS targets over the past months.
So far, U.S.-led military pressure against the Islamic State has concentrated on Iraq and Syria.
Together, those attacks killed more than 50 people, majority foreign tourists.
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The newspaper also says that Sabratha’s mayor told Libya TV that the properties that were hit were suspected to be occupied by ISIS, and that some of the people living there had only recently arrived in town. Some Tunisians, a Jordanian and two women were among the dead, he said.
