US air strike hits IS in Libya, dozens dead

A US air strike on a jihadist training camp in Libya killed dozens of people on Friday, probably including a senior Islamic State group operative behind attacks in Tunisia, officials said.

“The US conducted an air strike early this morning (Libya time) against an ISIL training camp near Sabratha, Libya, that likely killed ISIL operative Noureddine Chouchane,” a US official said, using an alternative acronym for the IS group.

A jihadist safe house was destroyed in the dawn raid in Sabratha about 70 kilometres west of Tripoli, according to Hussein al-Dawadi, an official in the city, located near the border with Tunisia.

“The raid killed 41 people who were all inside the house,” Dawadi told AFP. “The vast majority of those killed were Tunisians who were probably members of IS.” 

In July, an attack on a beach resort near the Tunisian city of Sousse killed 38 tourists -- including 30 Britons.

That followed an attack on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis in March that killed 21 tourists and a policeman.

Both attacks were claimed by IS, which the United States is also targeting with air strikes in Syria and Iraq.