ISTANBUL

More than 90% of the mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group which supported Libyan renegade commander Khalifa Haftar have left the town of Bani Walid in a big convoy, its mayor said Tuesday. 

Salem Alaywan told a local television channel that they headed south.

Earlier this year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said more than 2,000 Wagner mercenaries were fighting in the war-ravaged country.

Following the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya's government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led political agreement.

The government, which has been besieged by Haftar's forces since April 2019, launched Operation Peace Storm on March 26 to counter attacks on the capital Tripoli and other parts of northwest Libya.