Libyan pro-government forces pressed an advance against the Islamic State group in the coastal city of Sirte on Sunday as they battled jihadists holed up in waterfront residential areas.
In May, forces loyal to the unity government began an offensive to retake the Mediterranean city and home town of slain dictator Muammar Qadhafi, which IS seized in June last year.
The offensive came amid growing concern that jihadists would use Sirte, where they had set up centres to train militants, as a springboard for attacks on European shores hundreds of kilometres (miles) away.
One June 9, pro-government forces entered Sirte and more than two months later pushed the jihadists from key positions including their headquarters at the Ouagadougou conference centre, a sprawling compound near the city centre.
AFP correspondents who toured the city on Saturday said loyalist forces were pressing their advance, buoyed by US air strikes earlier this month that targeted IS holdouts in the city.
The forces fired machineguns mounted on pick-up trucks and light weapons at IS targets in the distance as they tried to advance towards an area known as "residential district three" facing the Mediterranean, the correspondents said.
On Sunday, the spokesman for the forces, General Mohamad Ghassri, told AFP that both residential districts near the waterfront were "currently battle zones".
Pro-government forces "have entered district number two" which could fall under their control later Sunday, he said.
"IS has only control over one sector, residential district one in the heart of downtown Sirte," he said.
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