Warplanes launched three airstrikes on the eastern Libyan city of Derna on Monday, a witness said, in an apparent continuation of Egyptian raids on the city that began last week after militants ambushed a bus and killed Egyptian Christians.
There was no immediate confirmation of Monday's strikes from officials in Libya or neighboring Egypt, nor any claim for the raid on the city at the eastern end of Libya's Mediterranean coast, Reuters reported. However, Egypt has previously acknowledged conducting airstrikes on targets in Libya since Friday and said it would launch further raids, if necessary. A powerful Libyan force in the east of the country says it has coordinated air raids with Cairo.
The witness said one attack hit the western entrance to Derna and the other two hit Dahr al-Hamar, an area in the south of the city.
Egyptian jets attacked Derna on Friday, just hours after masked militants boarded vehicles en route to a monastery in the southern Egyptian province of Minya and opened fire at close range, killing 29 and wounding 24.
IS claimed that attack in Egypt, the latest targeting Christian minority there. Two church bombings also claimed by IS killed more than 45 people last month. According to Yasser Risk, chairman of state newspaper Akhbar Elyoum and former war correspondent with close ties to Egypt's presidency, 15 targets were hit on the first day of strikes, including in Derna and Jafra, in central Libya, where what he called "terrorism centers" were located.
