US aircraft carried out airstrikes early Friday on the city of Sabratha, northwestern Libya, killing over 40 people, the city's mayor said.
Hussein al-Thwadi said the airstrikes were carried out at about 3:30 a.m. local time (0130 GMT). A building, where foreign workers were living, was hit in the Qasr Talil district.
The mayor said 41 people were killed and six others were wounded in the strikes. Other officials have not confirmed the death toll. Some Tunisians, a Jordanian citizen and two women were among the dead, the mayor said.
According to Colonel Mark Cheadle, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Africa Command, the airstrikes targeted a senior Tunisian militant, Noureddine Chouchane, linked to the attacks of 2015 in Tunisia: one on a resort hotel in the city of Sousse and the other on a museum in the capital, Tunis.
"We are assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information as and when appropriate," Cheadle stated.
The Daesh group claimed the attacks in Tunisia last year.
Daesh militans from Tunisia are believed to have been trained in camps near Sabratha, which is located close to the border, according to Tunisian security sources.
Libya has been in chaos since dictator Muammar Gaddafi was toppled and later killed in 2011.
Daesh fighters have exploited the chaotic situation in the North African country to set up strongholds there.
