Egypt

Islamic State seizes Libyan coastal town

The militant group, Islamic State, has seized control of the Libyan coastal city of Derna, not far from the Egyptian borders, CNN reported. The development comes amid rising Egyptian security concerns over the mushrooming Islamist influence in Egypt's western neighbor.
 
CNN quoted sources as saying that “the Derna branch of ISIS counts 800 fighters and operates half a dozen camps on the outskirts of the town, as well as larger facilities in the nearby Green Mountains, where fighters from across North Africa are being trained.”
 
Egypt had reportedly taken part in undeclared air strikes against Islamist strongholds in Libya, now in domestic armed strife among warring militant groups, fearing a flow of terrorist elements through its western borders.
 
"We give you good news by announcing the expansion of the Islamic State to new lands … the lands of Al Haramayn [Saudi Arabia], Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Algeria,” IS supreme leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdady said in an online message posted last week.
 
Libyan PM Abdallah Al-Thinni, said earlier this month  that his country was coordinating with the Egyptian side with regard to securing the border and raising the combat efficiency of the army and police units to confront terrorism.
 
But the IS threat has recently grown with a number of militant groups declaring allegiance to its command, including Anasr Bait al-Maqdis, the most active group in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that had carried out several bloody attacks against Egyptian security forces.
 
A US-led international military coalition is currently leading air strikes against IS strongholds in Iraq and Syria, where the group had won large territories.
 

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