Libyan security forces arrest five IS militants in Tripoli

Libyan security forces have arrested five members of Islamic State (IS) involved in bombings and suicide attacks, the Libyan Interior Ministry said.

The ministry said that the militants were "planning to target some security facilities and government institutions after preparing car bombs and sending suicide bombers."

"They were equipped in the desert by IS leaders to carry out some terrorist operations in Tripoli and Misurata (a city in northwestern Libya)," the ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The arrested militants confessed their roles in suicide bombings in different Libyan cities, it said.

In December 2015, forces allied with the UN-backed Libyan government defeated the IS affiliates and expelled them from their former stronghold in the city of Sirte, 450 km east of Tripoli, reports Xinhua.

The remaining IS fighters fled to the southern valleys and mountainous areas since.