ISIS retreats from key Libyan city of Derna

Fighters belonging to the Islamic State in Libya have reportedly withdrawn from their positions on the outskirts of the city of Derna.

ISIS “have all left Derna – they have no presence here anymore”, Hafeth al-Dabaa, a spokesman for Derna Mujahideen Shura Council (DMSC), told the BBC.

#ISIS faces defeat in eastern #Libya as government troops capture Derna city https://t.co/GuWdZQZ8g6 pic.twitter.com/j9Fpz4HSbv

— Al-Masdar News (@TheArabSource) April 22, 2016

The al-Qaeda linked DMSC is an umbrella group for local militias.

Derna has been the site of a three-way conflict between the forces loyal to the eastern government, an Islamist grouping known as the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council and Islamic State militants.

Airstrikes by the Libyan Army, the US and Egypt have also repeatedly hit the so-called “caliphate’s” fighting positions in the area over the past year and a half.

Since 2014, Libya has had two competing governments – one in the capital Tripoli, and another in the eastern city of Tobruk.

A new UN-brokered unity government is trying to restore peace in the country, which has been ravaged by conflict since the fall of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.