US-backed forces in Libya have liberated "70 per cent" of the city of Sirte, the Islamic State group'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 says.
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 per cent free, it will soon be completely free," Khalifa said.
"We are in the middle of the decisive phase in the battle against Daesh," said Reda Eissa, a media official, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
The general estimate of the numbers of IS militants remaining in Sirte is in the hundreds, he added.
The pro-government forces have had 16 dead since the last round of fighting started on Wednesday morning and more than 70 wounded, mostly by sniper fire and a suicide car bombing. In that attack, the bomber rammed his car into the Libyan fighters' lines, he said.
Libyan pro-government forces have lost hundreds of fighters since the Sirte offensive started. Eissa estimated number of deaths among IS at about 40.
Eissa said IS militants have been cornered inside residential areas in the northern section of the city as well as palace complexes adjacent to the port of Sirte.
"The speed of the Libyan forces' advancement from now one will be accelerating," he said.
IS seized Sirte, the hometown of Libya's former dictator Moammar Gadhafi, in 2015 and Libyan pro-government forces launched an operation to retake it in June.
