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ALGIERS/CAIRO. — The images match the worst of Islamic State’s atrocities: black-clad fighters and an English-speaking jihadist taunt the West before slaughtering their victims in orange jumpsuits on a Libyan beach. Their masked leader turns to the Mediterranean and points a bloodied knife towards Europe, declaring, “We will conquer Rome, God willing.”
The execution of 21 Egyptian Christians by militants in Libya proclaiming allegiance to Islamic State was an announcement that the group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has spread from Syria and Iraq to Libya.
Militants have profited from chaos to claim a North African outpost a boat ride away from Italy’s coast.
International reaction came swiftly. Egyptian jets pounded suspected militant sites in Libya, and Paris joined Cairo in calling for UN action to halt the militants’ spread.
Libya appears to be Islamic State’s most successful move yet beyond its Middle East heartland, likely attracting more recruits and increasing Western fears of a new North African base for jihadist fighters.
Yet even as they thrive in Libya’s unrest, Islamic State sympathisers must contend with rivalries and factional infighting that make securing the sort of territorial gains that IS has made in Iraq and Syria more complicated.
“The statement in Libya is more a statement of defiance,” said Hassan Hassan, co-author of a book on IS. “By killing Christian civilians, they were delivering a message that they’re expanding.”
The rise of IS comes as no surprise. Libya has descended into factional fighting, leaving the country almost lawless nearly four years after Muammar Gaddafi’s fall.
Two competing governments backed by militia brigades are scrambling for control. Diplomats have fled, Tripoli’s airport is a bombed-out shell and oil flow is a trickle as combatants trade rockets and air strikes.
Libya’s IS sympathisers have used social media to display shows of strength, parades of armed men and appeals to implement sharia law in the eastern city of Derna, a stronghold of Islamist militancy. But this year IS militants in Libya have escalated operations. Last month, they claimed an assault on the Tripoli Corinthia hotel, killing nine people. — Reuters.
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