Agencies/Tripoli

A car bomb attack claimed by the Islamic State group has killed nine people and wounded dozens in Libya’s eastern coastal city of Derna, a medical source said.
“Nine persons were killed and dozens wounded in a car bomb in Derna city” on Sunday night, a medical official in eastern Libya said by telephone.  
“Some of the dead and wounded are civilians.”
IS said it was behind the attack and that it was carried out by a Sudanese militant.
“The martyr Abu Jaafar al-Sudani blew up his car bomb... in the city of Derna, causing many dead and wounded,” read a statement the group posted online.
The militant group’s fighters last month lost control of Derna, which had been a bastion of IS since late last year. IS promised to avenge its fighters in a video posted online.
IS fighters were trying on Sunday to retake Derna, residents said. The rival Islamist Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade managed to repulse their attack, but fighting with heavy weapons raged on the eastern edge of the city late into Sunday night, they said.
An Islamist commander opposing IS was killed, IS said, adding others had been killed and wounded. But no further details were immediately available.
The air force of Libya’s official government, which has been based in the east of the country since losing control of the capital Tripoli a year ago, conducted an air strike on an area that IS was trying to take, said Abdul-Karim Sabra, a local military spokesman.