Libya captures ISIS figure suspected over three attacks in 2018

Extremist group has taken advantage of the disintegration of Libya's security apparatus since the fall of dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011

Protesters wave ISIS flags during a demonstration in the Libyan city of Benghazi in 2012 against a film and cartoon denigrating the Prophet Mohammed. AP Photo

A leader of the ISIS extremist group who allegedly planned and sponsored three deadly attacks in the Libyan capital Tripoli in 2018 has been captured, the country's prime minister ha said.

"Our forces apprehended on Tuesday a leader of the terrorist organisation Daesh, involved in the planning and command of terrorist acts that targeted the institutions of our country and their fallen officials," Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, Prime Minister of Libya's Government of National Unity, said during a live TV broadcast on Thursday, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

The government's media office offered no further details on the identity or nationality of the alleged ISIS figure, who was arrested in a joint military operation.

Mr Dbeibah also renewed his government's commitment to "combat terrorism in all its forms", to "prosecute anyone involved" in terrorist acts and to "strengthen stability throughout the country".

On May 2, 2018, a total of 14 people were killed in a suicide attack claimed by ISIS on the headquarters of the Libyan High Electoral Commission in Tripoli.

On September 10, 2018, a suicide attack by the group on the Libyan National Oil Company building in the capital killed two and wounded 10 staff.

Libyan forces’ fighters rest and reload weapons during combat against ISIS militants in Sirte, Libya. AP

On December 25, 2018, three people, including a Libyan diplomat, were killed in an attack claimed by ISIS at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

ISIS has taken advantage of the disintegration of Libya's security apparatus since the fall of dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011 to carry out attacks across the country. It also set up strongholds in the eastern and northern towns of Derna and Sirte, from which it was driven out in 2018 and 2016, respectively.

There are an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 active ISIS members in Syria and Iraq, with the group also posing the most serious terrorist threat in Afghanistan, UN experts said in a report last week.

The threat posed by ISIS was "mostly high in conflict zones and low in non-conflict areas" during the first half of the year, the report found.