TRIPOLI: Gunmen claiming to be members of the Islamic State group have seized control of a state-run radio station in Libya’s coastal city of Sirte, residents said Friday.

Jihadi websites also posted pictures showing armed men sitting in front of microphones in a broadcasting studio and brandishing Kalashnikov assault rifles.“They took Radio Sirte Thursday. Since then they have been broadcasting (verses from) the Holy Qur'an and speeches by (IS chief Abu Bakr) Al-Baghdadi,” a resident of the central city told AFP by telephone. The resident said speeches of IS spokesman Abu Mohammed Al-Adnani were also being played on the air.

A former administration official said the gunmen have also set up a headquarters in the center of the city, and voiced concern that they could declare Sirte an Islamic emirate.

“They could take advantage of the absence of any central government authority to transform the city into an Islamic emirate as they did in Derna.”