Haftar’s army says it killed Daesh leader behind beheading of Egyptians

The Libyan National Army (LNA), which is commanded by General Khalifa Haftar, said yesterday that it had killed Daesh leader Mahdi Dango, who is the mastermind behind the beheading of 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians in the western Libyan city of Sirte in 2015.

The announcement was made by the Director of the Moral Guidance Department of the eastern-based LNA, Major General Khaled Al-Mahjoub, in a post published on Facebook. No official statement was issued by the Government of National Unity (GNU).

Al-Mahjoub said that a special operations force led by Major General Tariq Bin Ziyad was able to eliminate Dango in the south of Libya yesterday.

He added that the operation took place following a series of investigations as the Daesh leader was hiding from LNA forces.

Dango is one of the most dangerous Daesh militants, Al-Mahjoub said, and the mastermind and planner of several terrorist operations, including the massacre committed against 20 Coptic Egyptian in 2015.

For years, Libya has been suffering from political and security turmoil, a situation that Daesh has utilised to carry out terrorist operations. Two rival governments have been at loggerheads; the first is the UN-backed and internationally recognised National Unity Government (NUG), led by Abdul Hamid Al-Dbeibeh, and the second headed by Fathi Bashagha who was assigned by the House of Representatives in Tobruk in the east.

READ: Libya exhumes 6 bodies from mass grave in Tarhuna