Reuters, 11/02 17:48 CET
By Emma Farge
DAKAR (Reuters) – Groups of
Islamic State fighters are quitting their bases in Libya fearing Western
air strikes and heading south, posing a new threat to countries in
Africa’s Sahel region including Niger and Chad, officials and
intelligence sources said.
The ultra-hardline movement that has seized large areas
of Syria and neighbouring Iraq has also amassed thousands of fighters
along a coastal strip in Libya, where it has taken the city of Sirte and
attacked oil infrastructure.
African and Western governments fear that the vast,
lawless Sahel band to the south will become its next target, and say any
large regional presence could be used as a springboard for wider
attacks.
“ISIS (Islamic State) are
moving towards southern Libya to avoid the likely air strikes from the
European coalition,” said Colonel Mahamane Laminou Sani, director of
documentation and military intelligence for Niger’s armed forces.
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Source: Euronews
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