TRIPOLI: Militants with the Islamic State group killed five militia fighters in an attack on a checkpoint Wednesday in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte, a local official said.

The militia fighters are part of the so-called Brigade 166 tasked by the Tripoli government with securing Sirte. They have engaged in sporadic fighting with IS men around the city.

“Islamic State fighters attacked a checkpoint 15 km west of Sirte, killing five members of Brigade 166 belonging to the Libya Dawn group and tasked with protecting the city,” brigade spokesman Khaled Abou Jizya said.

“Fierce clashes erupted in the early morning and the Islamic State fighters were repelled,” Abou Jizya added.

In an audio message posted online IS meanwhile claimed responsibility for a double suicide car bombing that killed at least seven soldiers in Libya’s second city of Benghazi on Tuesday.

Libya has been plagued by chaos since the end of the 2011 revolt that toppled Qaddafi, with heavily armed militias battling for control of its cities and oil wealth and rival governments and parliaments vying for power.

The country has had two governments and parliaments since Tripoli was seized in August by Libya Dawn and the internationally recognized government fled to the country’s far east.