One dead in attack on Libya police station claimed by Daesh

TRIPOLI — A woman was killed and five other civilians were wounded in an attack on a police station in eastern Libya that was claimed on Sunday by the Daesh militant group.

The attack occurred at dawn on Saturday while security forces were erecting a roadblock in Al Qanan, 18 kilometres south of Ajdabiya, said the LANA news agency loyal to Libya’s eastern administration.

In a statement posted online, Daesh said its “caliphate soldiers” attacked Al Qanan police station and “violent clashes ended in the destruction of station elements”.

LANA reported the death of at least one person, a woman, and that five other passers-by were wounded during the attack on the police station.

The area surrounding Ajdabiya, a city 160 kilometres east of Benghazi, is often hit by Daesh, targeting forces from strongman Khalifa Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA).

Daesh said it was behind two attacks in the area on May 22, with a suicide attack against a checkpoint south of Ajdabiya killing at least two LNA soldiers.

In another incident some 200 kilometres south of the city, a soldier was abducted from a roadblock at the entrance to the city of Ojla.

In March, Daesh claimed responsibility for two other attacks on LNA checkpoints in the region, in which a total of ten people were killed.

Since the 2011 ousting of dictator Muammar Qadhafi, Libya has been divided by rival powers with Haftar’s forces dominating the country’s east.

A UN-backed unity government sits in the capital Tripoli, while numerous armed groups and militants are active in different parts of Libya.