Libyan forces enter 'final phase' of battle for Sirte

Pro-government forces battled on Thursday to clear the Islamic State from its main Libyan stronghold of Sirte, after dealing a major blow to the group by seizing their headquarters.

IS fighters still control several areas of the Mediterranean city, whose capture in June last year sparked fears that the group would use it as a springboard for attacks on Europe.

The fall of Sirte would be a huge setback to IS efforts to expand their self-proclaimed "caliphate" beyond Syria and Iraq where they have also suffered a string of losses.

Forces loyal to Libya's UN-backed unity government made a significant breakthrough on Wednesday in their nearly three-month-old offensive to retake the city, seizing a conference centre where IS had set up a base.

"The battle for Sirte has reached its final phase, after the successful offensive by our heroes," a spokesman for the forces, General Mohamad Ghassri, said Thursday in remarks carried by the LANA news agency.

The rapid advance comes after the United States launched air strikes on IS positions in the city for the first time on 1 August.

IS took advantage of the chaos that followed the death of longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 to gain a foothold in the country.

The forces loyal to the Government of National Accord on Wednesday also seized the University of Sirte campus just south of the Ouagadougou conference centre as well as the Ibn Sina Hospital to the north.

Libyan television stations broadcast images of flag-waving soldiers in recaptured areas including the Ouagadougou centre, flashing victory signs as they posed for photographs.

The pro-GNA forces said 16 of their fighters were killed and dozens wounded Wednesday in the fighting in Sirte.

The GNA said that at least 20 militants had died in fighting for the university campus.

In total more than 300 pro-government fighters have been killed and 1,800 wounded in the operation for Sirte, according to medical sources in the city of Misrata, where the operation's command centre in based.