BENGHAZI, Libya — Libya’s internationally recognized government has asked fellow Arab states to conduct airstrikes against the Libyan branch of the Islamic State in the coastal city of Surt, a cabinet statement said on Saturday.

In the past few days, the Islamic State has crushed a revolt by a rival Salafist group and armed residents who tried to break its grip on the city. Dozens of people have been killed, according to residents.

Libya’s temporary government, based in the cities of Tobruk and Bayda, said in the statement that it urged “the Arab brother states” to conduct airstrikes against “positions of the Daesh terrorist group in Surt,” using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.

The fighting began on Tuesday in Surt, a central city about 300 miles east of the capital, Tripoli. Islamic State fighters took over Surt in February, expanding their presence in the North African country by exploiting a security vacuum, as they did in Iraq and Syria.