'70 percent' of last IS bastion liberated
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CAIRO - US-backed forces in Libya have liberated "70 percent" of the city of Sirte, ISIS's last bastion in the North African country, after seizing several strategic locations over the past 24 hours under the cover of US airstrikes, a Libyan official said Thursday.
Mokhtar Khalifa, the Sirte mayor, told The Associated Press that the city's southern and western sections are under control of the Libyan fighters loyal to the UN-brokered government in Tripoli, the country's capital.
"Sirte is 70 percent free, it will soon be completely free," Khalifa said.
