Daesh terrorists have killed three Libyan security personnel in the country's southwest, according to a statement issued Thursday by Libya's Interior Ministry.

The attack on Wednesday, in the desert some 700 kilometers (430 miles) south of Tripoli, "targeted a patrol of the Umm al-Aranib Martyrs' Brigade, killing three of its members," the ministry said in a statement.

It added that government forces had "killed four members of Daesh and destroyed their vehicle."

It said a search was underway for other terrorists who had fled and the terrorists were attempting to "undermine stability and terrorize civilians."

Daesh on Monday claimed it had attacked the same brigade in the same area a week earlier, killing two members.

The Umm al-Aranib Martyrs' Brigade is largely made up of members of the long-marginalized Tubu ethnic group.

Libya has been roiled by lawlessness since the 2011 fall of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, with an array of armed groups vying for control.

Daesh took advantage of the chaos to seize parts of the country's north and east, but after a string of offensives saw it kicked out of its final bastion Derna in 2018.

The group has continued to carry out small-scale attacks.