US General: ’ISIL’ Training Camps in Eastern Libya

Local Editor

A top US general revealed that the "ISIL" group, has set up training camps in eastern Libya and the American military is closely monitoring it.

This comes as Western countries have been increasingly worried that Libya's political turmoil could provide fertile ground for extremists. However, General David Rodriguez ruled out military action on the "nascent" camps in the immediate future.

"They put training camps out there," Rodriguez, head of US Africa Command, told reporters, referring to the "ISIL" that seized territory in Iraq and neighboring Syria this year in a brutal and swift offensive of beheadings.

He described the "ISIL" activity in eastern Libya as "very small and nascent."
"Around a couple hundred" militants were present at the camps and US forces would continue to track the area to see if the "ISIL" presence expanded, said Rodriguez.

When asked if the training camps in Libya were a potential target for American forces, Rodriguez said: "No, not right now."

The "ISIL" group "has begun its efforts over in the east out there to introduce some people over there," he said.

"But we'll have to just continue to monitor and watch that carefully in the future to see what happens or whether it grows on unabated."

The four-star general said it appeared the "ISIL" militants in Libya were not volunteers coming from outside the country but militia members who had shifted their loyalty to the extremists group.

Libya has been plagued by instability since the overthrow of autocratic leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, and "ISIL" leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi recently boasted of vows of allegiance from militants in the country.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team