Libyan pro-government forces have advanced into another area in their battle to liberate Sirte from ISIL in fighting that killed 14 of their troops, military officials and hospital sources said.

After six months of fighting, Libyan forces allied with the UN-backed government in Tripoli are close to clearing out the last remnants of the militant group from the former hometown of dead leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Heavy street-to-street fighting in the Ghiza Bahriya area involved tanks and armored vehicles with heavy machine guns, as well as airstrikes to retake houses occupied by ISIL, according to military officials and a Reuters reporter.

“There was an incursion Friday made by Bonyan Marsous forces into Ghiza Bahriya,” said Ahmad Hadia, one of the spokesmen for pro-government forces who are mainly from the city of Misrata. “A car bomb was hit by warplanes of our forces.”

Fourteen pro-government troops were killed and more than 20 wounded in clashes Friday, a spokesman of the Misrata Central hospital, Akram Gliwan, told Reuters.

Source: Reuters