Isis-aligned fighters are being trained in Libya

04 December 2014

US general says camps are being closely monitored

Militants aligned with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis) are being trained at camps in Libya, according to the head of US Africa Command, General David Rodriguez.

About 200 militants are being trained in the country, according to the general, who says the US is closely monitoring the situation.

Libya has failed to build a strong state or a cohesive army since its 2011 uprising, leaving a power vacuum that has been filled by a wide array of armed groups with varying ideologies and allegiances.

Large swathes of eastern Libya have been controlled by jihadist groups since the revolution.

General Rodriguez says it is not yet clear how closely aligned the fighters are to Isis.

“Right now, it’s just small and very nascent and we just have to see how it goes,” he says.

Amid Libya’s post-revolutionary chaos the country’s elected parliament has been forced to move to the small coastal city of Tobruk, while a rival unelected Islamist parliament presides over the capital, Tripoli.

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