In Libya, forces are close to ending a six-month campaign to liberate Sirte from Islamic State, which took over the city more than a year after taking advantage of factional infighting that emerged after the fall of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Forces mostly from nearby Misrata city are pushing ahead street by street, facing snipers and suicide bombers. <br/><br/>They are helped by US air strikes since August and coordination with small teams of Western special forces on the ground. On Sunday, Libyan forces recaptured the city's Cambo area, and swept out tunnels used by militants to hide and prepare ambushes, and seized a field hospital. <br/><br/>They found charred bodies of militants hit by air strikes. US aircraft carried out 36 strikes from Friday to Saturday mostly on enemy fighting positions but also on a car bomb, according to a US Africa Command statement on yesterday. Islamic State steadily imposed control on Sirte a year ago, and used the city as a base to launch attacks on oilfields and ports as well as to target checkpoints in nearby Misrata.