Those forces, supported since August 1 by USA air strikes, said in a statement that they had taken Islamic State’s “most important bastions” in its former North African stronghold.
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The Libyan fighters, mainly from the western city of Misrata, captured on Wednesday the city’s sprawling convention center known as Ouagadougou, which IS had turned into its headquarters.
Fighters also took Sirte’s Ibn Sina hospital and university campus, spokesman Rida Issa said.
The capture of Sirte would be a major setback for Islamic State, ousting the jihadist group from the only city in Libya where it established total control.
US drones and fighter jets have carried out 36 strikes over Sirte since Aug. Africa Command said it carried out seven strikes in Sirte on Wednesday, targeting trucks mounted with heavy artillery, fighting positions, a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device and two supply trucks. USA 1. They come 10 days after the United States began air strikes over Sirte, which fighters say have eased their advance on militants encircled in the centre of the city.
The U.N. -backed government arrived in Tripoli in March, but has struggled to impose its authority and faces continuing resistance from armed factions that control eastern Libya.
Earlier in the day, Libyan forces said they had lost a fighter jet over Sirte. Issa said the cause of the crash and the fate of the crew could not be confirmed.
Present in Libya since October 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) is now on the run after losing some battles.
“The Ouagadougou [convention] centre is in our hands”, a spokesman for forces loyal to Libya’s UN-backed government of national accord said.
Quoting US officials speaking on condition of anonymity, the Post said the US forces were operating alongside British troops, helping to coordinate American air strikes and providing intelligence.
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La Repubblica newspaper reported that Italians were teaching Libyans how to diffuse land mines in Sirte.
