A fighter of Libyan forces allied with the U.N.-backed government looks for Islamic State militants through a hole in a wall as forces advance against the militants' holdouts in Ghiza Bahriya district in Sirte, Libya December 1, 2016. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny
SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - Several women blew themselves up on Friday in suicide attacks that killed four Libyan soldiers who had granted them safe passage to leave buildings under the control of Islamic State militants, a spokesman for government forces said.
The Libyan forces, backed by U.S. air strikes, are close to taking full control of the former IS stronghold of Sirte after a campaign lasting more than six months. But they have had difficulty dislodging Islamic State from a final patch of land near the city's Mediterranean sea front, partly because of concerns about families or captives still held by the militants.
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