The Daily Telegraph reports that the assault by IS militants to control Libya's largest oil depot at Sidra comes amid expectation that British troops could soon be sent to Libya to help its fledgling government fight IS there.
Under the plan, up to 1,000 British troops would form part of a joint force with Italy - Libya's former colonial power - in training and advising Libyan forces. British special forces could also be engaged on the front line.
Libya's Al Wasat News also reports that a senior IS leader, Abu Hamam al-Tunisi ("the Tunisian") was killed during the clashes at Sidra in Libya today.
Libya's Al Wasat News is reporting that two guards were killed this morning in IS suicide car bombings at the Sidra oil terminal.
Al Wasat is quoting residents from Ras Lanuf some 20 kilometers away who said that they heard two very loud explosions.
Libyan social media accounts are tweeting photos claiming to show Sidra, which has been targeted by IS militants today.
Libyan freelance journalist Suliman Ali Zway says that IS's attack on Libya's oil terminals is an attempt to gain control, rather than just an ordinary assault.
An update on the reports that have been emerging saying that families in Ras Lanuf in Libya have begun to leave the town amid an ongoing attack by the IS group.
The Red Crescent in Ajdabiya has now reportedly said that families have started leaving Ras Lanuf.
A group of militants in the Philippines has pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a video, the SITE Intel Group says.
Il Foglio's Daniele Raineri also notes that IS in Libya has named its successful assault on the town of Bin Jawad after Abu Mughira al-Qahtani, IS's leader in Libya, and added an Arabic phrase meaning "may Allah accept him."
This suggests that al-Qahtani is dead, Raineri says -- noting that IS's glossy magazine, Dabiq, ran an interview with al-Qahtani in September.
Raineri also suggests that al-Qahtani could have been Abu Nabil al-Anbari, who was killed in a U.S. air strike in Libya on November 13.
An Iraqi official has blamed the IS group for the bombing of two Sunni mosques in the predominantly Shi'ite city of Hilla in southern Iraq late on January 3, saying the militant group seeks to stoke sectarian tensions, AP reports.
Provincial security official Falah al-Khafaji told AP he doesn't believe the bombings were linked to an escalating spat between Saudi Arabia and Iran,
Al-Khafaji said that IS "did this to inflame sectarian strife in the country, starting in Hilla."
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi blamed the attacks on "[IS] and those who are similar to them."