Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) has announced the arrest of a prominent member of the ISIS group in southern Libya.
Mohamed Miloud Mohamed, also known as Abu Omar, was detained during a military operation in the southern city of Ubari, announced LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari in a statement.
Abu Omar is a top ISIS leader in Libya who rose to fame when the group took control of the central coastal city of Sirte in 2015.
Sirte became a militant stronghold where fighters were trained and attacks orchestrated. Foreign tourists in neighboring Tunisia were also killed before ISIS was driven out of the Libyan city in 2016.
The ouster of ISIS from Sirte significantly weakened the group in Libya, while its members have since retreated into the desert or blended in with the population on the Mediterranean coast.
Abu Omar had “close ties” with Abu Moaz Al-Iraqi, Libya’s lead ISIS member who was killed in September 2020 by pro-Haftar forces.
Abu Omar is also accused of the 2015 abduction of four Italian engineers, who were freed after payment of a ransom estimated at four million euros ($4.8 million).
