ISIS Claims Responsibility for Libya Checkpoint Attack, GNA Arrests Perpetrators

Libyan security patrol on August 23, 2018 near the site of an attack on a checkpoint in the city of Zliten. (AFP)
Libyan security patrol on August 23, 2018 near the site of an attack on a checkpoint in the city of Zliten. (AFP)
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ISIS Claims Responsibility for Libya Checkpoint Attack, GNA Arrests Perpetrators

Libyan security patrol on August 23, 2018 near the site of an attack on a checkpoint in the city of Zliten. (AFP)
Libyan security patrol on August 23, 2018 near the site of an attack on a checkpoint in the city of Zliten. (AFP)

Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) vowed on Sunday to punish the perpetrators of last week’s terrorist attack against a security checkpoint east of the capital Tripoli on Thursday.

The GNA Justice Ministry said it will not allow the attackers to escape punishment, ordering the general prosecutor to take the necessary legal measures against them.

It urged society to “stand against terrorism and defeat it.”

Such crimes will only make the Libyans more determined to combat terror, it added.

The ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack, but it did not provide any evidence to support its claim.

On Saturday, GNA Interior Minister Abdulsalam Ashour announced that the perpetrators of the attack were arrested and investigations are underway with them.

The plotters themselves remain at large, he revealed, adding that all of the suspects are Libyan.

Preliminary investigations showed that they belong to ISIS.

The minister denied that the terror group had established a solid footing in Libya, saying that ISIS is taking advantage of the remote areas in the South to carry out its activities.

Ashour stressed that his ministry was working on halting terrorist acts in the country.

Thursday’s attack targeted a GNA special operations checkpoint.

It took place between the towns of Zliten and Khoms on the coastal road leading from Tripoli to the port city of Misrata, an area in which ISIS members are known to be operating, according to the Zliten mayor.



28 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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28 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including four children, hospital officials said Saturday.

The children and two women were among at least 13 people who were killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the area starting late Friday, officials in Al-Aqsa Martyr's Hospital said. Another four people were killed in strikes near a fuel station, and 15 others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.

The Israeli military said in a statement that over the past 48 hours, troops struck approximately 250 targets in the Gaza Strip, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and additional Hamas infrastructure sites. The military did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' request for comment on the civilian deaths.

The Hamas-led group killed some 1,200 people in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and abducted 251. They still hold 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

US President Donald Trump has said that he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war. But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there were no signs of a breakthrough.