The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility on Monday for the car bomb explosion that occurred the day before in the Libyan city of Sebha (south) and which resulted in the death of two law enforcement agents.
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Two security agents were killed and five others injured on Sunday in the attack on a checkpoint in Sebha, a desert town located 750 km south of the capital Tripoli, according to security sources contacted by AFP. In a statement released by its propaganda agency Amaq, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack carried out by one of its "
knights
" against a "
militia checkpoint
" of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, a strongman in eastern Libya and leader. of the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (ANL), advancing a death toll of four.
The head of the Libyan transitional government, Abdelhamid Dbeibah, on Sunday condemned a "
cowardly terrorist act
" and offered his condolences to the families of the two "
martyrs
". This is the first jihadist attack carried out by ISIS in the country for more than a year, recalls the SITE Intelligence Group, an organization specializing in the monitoring of Islamist websites.
The capital of Fezzan, the southern province of Libya, the city of Sebha has been the scene of several jihadist attacks in recent years. Libya plunged into chaos with the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, a chaos marked by the existence of rival powers, bloody violence and the presence of militias, foreign fighters and jihadist groups. The interminable Libyan political transition has been accompanied by a disintegration of the security apparatus, favoring the arrival in the North African country of jihadist groups, foremost among which is ISIS since 2014.
This attack comes as Libya is engaged in a political process sponsored by the UN which allowed the installation, in March, of a transitional government led by Abdelhamid Dbeibah in charge of reuniting the country and preparing a double legislative ballot and crucial presidential election scheduled for December.