Leading terrorist figure killed by Libya’s national army

CAIRO – 3 June 2017: The jihadist commander Soliman El-Hawat who belongs to the so-called “Shura Council of Mujahideen in Derna,” was killed in clashes between militants and the Libyan armed forces in Boudhak Valley, south of Derna, Libyan local sources confirmed on Friday.

Hawat is related to Magdy El-Hawat, who served as the group’s Sharia court judge and was reportedly arrested few days ago.

The terrorist group has suffered setbacks following the Egyptian-Libyan strikes at Darna last week.

Hours after a massacre of 29 Coptic Christians in Minya on Friday, Egypt carried out a wave of air strikes targeting training camps and the main center of the Shura Council of Mujahideen in Derna, which allegedly harbored the terrorist elements who carried the attack.

The strikes on Derna were held in cooperation with the general command of the Libyan armed forces; and Libyan officials have since then expressed their full support for Egypt's operations and its war against terrorism.