Dutch journalist killed in Libya’s Sirte

By Osama Ali

TRIPOLI (AA) – A Dutch journalist was shot dead Sunday while covering clashes between government forces and Daesh militants in Libya’s northern city of Sirte.

“Journalist Jeroen Oerlemans was killed by a Daesh sniper,” Abdel-Aziz Eissa, spokesman for the Misrata hospital, 200 km west of Sirte, told Anadolu Agency.

He said the reporter’s body had been transferred to the hospital.

The spokesman said Oerlemans was covering ongoing clashes between government forces and Daesh militants when he was gunned down.

The Dutch ambassador to Libya, Eric Strating, hailed Oerlemans’s work while tweeting his condolences.

“Your photographs of Sirte, Libya and other places will live on forever,” Strating said on Twitter. “Thank you for shining your light on the misery of others.”

For months, forces aligned with the UN-backed unity government have been fighting Daesh militants in an effort to recapture Sirte, which was overrun by the terrorist group in 2015.

Libya has remained in a state of turmoil since 2011, when a bloody uprising ended with the ouster and death of longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi.