“It was not immediately clear whether Islamic State was responsible for the car bomb.” It could have been rival jihadists. In either case, this is the Libya that is Barack Obama’s legacy: his policies are responsible for the chaos there, as well as for the rise of the Islamic State there and elsewhere.
“Car bomb kills seven in eastern Libya as Islamic State presses offensive,” by Ayman al-Warfalli, Reuters, August 9, 2015:
A car bomb exploded in Derna in eastern Libya on Sunday, killing at least seven people and wounding 19 others, medics and residents said, as Islamic State militants pressed an offensive to retake the port city.
It was not immediately clear whether Islamic State was responsible for the car bomb. Accurate information is difficult to obtain in Derna, a remote city controlled by Islamists outside government control.
Islamic State has built up a significant presence in Libya, exploiting a security vacuum as two rival governments battle for power four years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi.
But Islamic State was expelled from Derna in June by rival Islamist groups backed up by residents angry over the arrival of foreign fighters and clerics in the city.
Islamic State fighters were trying on Sunday to retake Derna, residents said. The rival Islamist Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade managed to repulse their attack, but fighting with heavy weapons raged on the eastern edge of the city late into Sunday night, they said.
An Islamist commander opposing Islamic State was killed, Islamic State said, adding others had been killed and wounded. But no further details were immediately available….