IS overran Abu Grein on 5 May as part of a series of forays into territory controlled by the UN-backed government, including a deadly attack a week later on a checkpoint at Saddada, 50 kilometres to the west.
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The extremist armed group Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has unlawfully executed at least 49 people in its Libyan stronghold of Sirte since February 2015, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Wednesday.
In a televised statement from the streets of Abu Grain, spokesman Mohamed Al Gasri said the forces had “liberated” the small town and two nearby villages after heavy fighting.
The new government has moved to establish itself in western Libya with the backing of brigades from Misrata, which gained power due to its central role in the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. A third, United Nations-brokered “unity” government has yet to gain authority.
The new government’s operations room says it is preparing an offensive to recapture Sirte, which has been controlled by Islamic State since past year.
Daesh controls a strip of coast about 250 km (155 miles) long around Sirte but it has struggled to hold ground elsewhere in the country.
The unity government then created a new operations room in Misrata, which announced a campaign to recapture Sirte.
Militias from Misrata, which are supporting the GNA, have been involved in fierce fighting with IS and this week managed to capture from IS fighters a strategic crossroads at Abu Grain seized by the militants last month. They included relatives of people Islamic State killed or detained, as well as exiled local officials and members of rival armed groups.
IS militants have engaged in kidnappings, and dozens of captured Libyan militia fighters have gone missing in Sirte, many are presumed dead, according to Human Rights Watch.
US military experts estimated in April that the Islamic State group has up to 6,000 fighters in Libya. The group also closed shops specializing in lingerie or Western clothing, they said.
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“Instead it is diverting food, medicine, fuel, and cash, along with homes it confiscated from residents who fled, to as many as 1,800 fighters, police and functionaries it has amassed in the city”.
