Leading Daesh member reportedly killed in Libya

TRIPOLI, Libya (AA) – A top Daesh terrorist reportedly responsible for media outreach was killed while working with Khalifa Haftar-affiliated forces in Libya, said a media organ affiliated with the terrorist group.

Mohamed Bin Ahmed al-Falata was killed “by forces of the Libyan army,” reported a magazine affiliated with the terrorist group.

Al-Falata, codenamed Abu Assem al-Muhajer, was born in neighboring Sudan before his family moved to Saudi Arabia, Libyan daily Al Marsad reported Friday.

After he returned to Sudan, he plotted attacks there, but was arrested and later released. After gaining freedom, he joined the Daesh terror group, said the paper, without giving details of his prison term or why he was released.

After also pursuing terrorist actions in Chad, he moved to Libya to support the terrorist Daesh there, said the newspaper.

Libya has remained beset by turmoil since 2011 when a bloody NATO-backed uprising led to the ouster and death of long-serving President Muammar Gaddafi after more than four decades in power.

Since then, the country’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of power -- one in Tobruk led by Khalifa Haftar, and a UN-recognized one in Tripoli -- and a host of heavily armed militia groups.