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50 People Killed, Including Women, Many Seriously Injured, in a US Air Strike on Libyan City of Sabrata

February 19, 2016  

Site of the US air strike on Sabrata, Libya, February 19, 2016

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The Arabic Youm 7 publication reported that the US air strike on the Libyan city of Sabrata today, February 19, 2016, resulting in killing at least 50 people, in addition to many injured in serious conditions. The air strike targeted a house of a Libyan man called Abdul Hakeem Al-Mushoot, who came back from Syria.

Al-Arabiya in Arabic reported that 46 people were killed in the US air strike which aimed at killing a Tunisian called Noureddin Shoushan.

The Reuters news story, in English, reported that 41 people were killed, including two women, and six wounded. Reuters also added that the building was used by foreign workers, particularly from neighboring Tunisia. 

بالصور.. ارتفاع عدد قتلى القصف الأمريكى فى صبراتة إلى 50 شخصا

الجمعة، 19 فبراير 2016 - 02:23 م

كتب أحمد جمعة

قالت مصادر ليبية مطلعة فى مدينة صبراتة أن حصيلة القتلى جراء قصف الطيران الأمريكى لعناصر غير ليبية فجر اليوم الجمعة، ارتفع لأكثر من 50 قتيلا، وعدد غير معروف من الجرحى جراحهم خطيرة، مؤكدة أن أشلاء القتلى تحت الأنقاض ويتم نقلهم إلى المستشفيات. وأكدت المصادر فى تصريحات خاصة لـ"اليوم السابع" من ليبيا أن العناصر التى تم استهدافها تعتنق الفكر المتشدد وغالبيتهم من تونس، مشيرة إلى أن الغارة استهدفت منزل عبد الحكيم المشوط، موضحة أن الغارات استهدفت المنزل الواقع بمنطقة (القصر) جنوب المدينة.

https://www.youm7.com/story/2016/2/19 

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أميركا تقصف معسكراً للدولة الإسلامية في مصراتة الليبية

دبي – قناة العربية ، وكالات 

آخر تحديث: الجمعة 11 جمادي الأول 1437هـ - 19 فبراير 2016م KSA 15:37 - GMT 12:37

أعلن متحدث باسم الجيش الأميركي أن القوات الأميركية نفذت ضربات جوية ضد للدولة الإسلامية في ليبيا اليوم الجمعة.

وكان من بين المستهدفين في الضربات التونسي نور الدين شوشان، الذي يشتبه في أنه وراء هجومين بتونس العام الماضي، حسب ما أعلنه الكولونيل مارك تشيدل، المتحدث باسم القيادة العسكرية الأميركية في إفريقيا.

وقال تشيدل لوكالة "رويترز": "نقيم نتائج العملية وسنوفر معلومات إضافية حين يكون هذا ملائماً وبالطريقة المناسبة".

ورجح مسؤول في سلاح الجو الأميركي، في حديث مع وكالة طفرانس برس"، مقتل شوشان في الغارة.

وقد أكدت مصادر لقناة "العربية" أن الطيران استهدف منزلاً في منطقة القصر بتليل غرب صبراتة الساعة 3:45 فجر اليوم الجمعة بتوقيت ليبيا. والمستهدف كان منزل عبدالحكيم المشوط، القيادي في "الجماعة الليبية المقاتلة" سابقا وأحد العائدين من سوريا أخيراً. ويقع المنزل وسط مزرعة يقيم فيها عدد من العرب، وخاصة التونسيين.

وأكدت مصادر لقناة "العربية" في مستشفى صبراتة وصول 46 جثة إلى المستشفى، أغلبها تابعة لأجانب، وذلك نتيجة القصف الأميركي على مزرعة في جنوب صبراتة.

https://www.alarabiya.net/ar/2016/02/19/طيران-مجهول-يقصف-معسكر-لـ-داعش-غرب-طرابلس.html

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U.S. Airstrike in Libya Targets ISIL Training Camp, Senior Facilitator

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, February 19, 2016 —

The U.S. military conducted an airstrike in Libya early today targeting an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant training camp near Sabrata, and Noureddine Shoushan, also known as "Sabir," a Tunisian national who was an ISIL senior facilitator in Libya associated with the training camp, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.

In May, Tunisian authorities named Shoushan as a suspect in a deadly March 18 attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis, Cook said in a written statement.

Shoushan also facilitated the movement of potential ISIL-affiliated foreign fighters from Tunisia to Libya and onward to other countries, Cook added.

Immediate Impact on ISIL in Libya

“Destruction of the camp and Shoushan's removal will eliminate an experienced facilitator and is expected to have an immediate impact on ISIL's ability to facilitate its activities in Libya, including recruiting new ISIL members, establishing bases in Libya, and potentially planning external attacks on U.S. interests in the region,” Cook said.

Officials are assessing the results of the operation, the press secretary added.

“This strike demonstrates we will go after ISIL whenever it is necessary, using the full range of tools at our disposal,” Cook said in his statement.

http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/658544/us-airstrike-in-libya-targets-isil-training-camp-senior-facilitator  

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U.S. aircraft hit Islamic State militants in Libya, more than 41 dead

Reuters, Friday, February 19, 2016, 7:45am EST

 By Ahmed Elumami and Aidan Lewis

TRIPOLI --

U.S. warplanes carried out air strikes against Islamic State-linked militants in western Libya on Friday, killing as many as 40 people in an operation targeting a suspect linked to two deadly attacks last year in neighbouring Tunisia.

It was the second U.S. air strike in three months against Islamic State in Libya, where the hardline Islamist militants have exploited years of chaos following Muammar Gaddafi's 2011 overthrow to build up a presence on the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

The mayor of the Libyan city of Sabrata, Hussein al-Twadi, told Reuters the planes struck at 3:30 a.m. (0130 GMT), hitting a building in the city's Qasr Talil district where foreign workers were living.

He said 41 people had been killed and six wounded. The death toll could not immediately be confirmed with other officials.

Tunisian security sources have said they believe Tunisian Islamic State fighters have been trained in camps near Sabratha, which is close to the Tunisian border.

A U.S. military officer said among those targeted in the air strikes was senior Tunisian operative, Noureddine Chouchane, believed to be connected to the attacks last year on a Tunis museum and the Souse beach resort which killed dozens of people.

Officials have said those two attacks, both claimed by Islamic State, were carried out by gunmen who trained in Libya.

"We are assessing the results of the operation," said Col. Mark Cheadle, spokesman for the Pentagon's Africa Command.

Twadi, the Sabrata mayor, said officials visited the site of the strike and found weapons in the building. Some Tunisians, a Jordanian and two women were among the dead, he said, and several Tunisians who had recently arrived in Sabratha were among survivors. He gave no further details.

Since Gaddafi was overthrown five years ago, Libya has slipped deeper into chaos with two rival governments each backed by competing factions of former rebel brigades.

As Islamic State has expanded in the north African country, taking over the city of Sirt and attacking oil ports, calls have increased for a swift Western response to stop the group establishing itself outside its territory in Iraq and Syria.

Western officials and diplomats have said air strikes and special forces operations are possible as well as an Italian-led "security stabilisation" plan of training and advising.

U.S. and European officials insist Libyans must invite help through a united government, but say they may still carry out unilateral action if needed.

Last November the United States said it carried out an air strike on Libya's Derna to target Abu Nabil, also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi, an Iraqi commander in Islamic State.

(Additional reporting by Warren Strobel in Washington; Writing by Aidan Lewis and Dominic Evans; Editing Patrick Markey and Alison Williams) 

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