Is a sniper killing ISIL leaders in Libya?
A legend is growing in the chaos of Sirte, Libya. Sirte is the so called headquarters of the Islamic State in Libya. Map.
Several IS leaders have been shot by "a sniper." Rumors abound. The most popular is that he is a Libyan fighter, possibly from a militia that fought Qaddafi's army. He is being likened to the Soviet's top sniper in the Battle of Stalingrad, who only came to the attention of most Americans when Jude Law portrayed the famous sniper in the 2001 movie Enemies at the Gate. This supposed "sniper" is even being praised in Syria.
Another theory is that it is an American commando. They have been running around Libya for a while now.
A more likely theory is that it is many people and it is just dangerous to be IS in a Libyan town which has no interest in living like 7th century IS troglodytes.
The killings - reported to be the work of a sniper who honed his skills in Libya’s uprising against Colonel Gaddafi - are said to have sowed panic among Isil's forces in the city, who have carried a string of arrests and executions in a bid to track down the culprit.
The Sirte assassin's most recent casualty, according to social media reports from Sirte, was Abdullah Hamad Al-Ansari, an Isil commander from southern Libyan city of Obari, who was shot dead on January 23 as he left a city centre mosque.
The birthplace of Libya's late Colonel Gaddafi, Sirte has been under Islamic State control since last summer, Libyan intelligence officials estimating that there may now be up to 2,000 jihadist fighters now based there.
The port city’s new masters have made brutal examples of opponents, via a regime of floggings and beheadings enforced by black-masked religious police.