UPDATE 1-Suspected Islamic State fighters attack central Libyan town

At least four people were killed and ten kidnapped when suspected Islamic State fighters attacked a town in central Libya, military officials said on Monday.

The raid on the desert oasis town of al-Foqha south of Jufra late on Sunday lasted several hours, during which the fighters set local government and security offices on fire, a military official who asked not to be named said.

Ten people were presumed to have been kidnapped, said Ahmed Mismari, spokesman for the Libya National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar, which controls much of eastern Libya.

Ismail al-Sharif, a lawmaker in the eastern-based House of Representatives, said the attack had probably come as revenge because some town youths had helped catch a local Islamic State leader this month.

The town lies in an area marked by poor security deep in the desert where Islamic State had withdrawn after losing its stronghold Sirte on the central coast in December 2016.

The LNA had recently boosted its presence in the area, moving into al-Foqha as part of efforts to push south. The attackers had left after a LNA unit had arrived, Mismari said.

The North African oil producer is split into two governments, one allied to Haftar opposed to the U.N.-backed administration in the capital Tripoli in western Libya.

Suspected Islamic State fighters have also repeatedly attacked oil facilities in the central Libyan desert. (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Alison Williams)

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