ISIL has training camps in eastern Libya

A top US military official has said that the ISIL terrorist group has set up training camps in eastern Libya.

“They put training camps out there,” and there may be “a coup of hundred” terrorists being trained, General David Rodriguez, head of the US military’s Africa Command, told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

Rodriguez said there is currently no plan for airstrikes against the group in the area but the US will “continue to monitor and watch that carefully in the future to see what happens or whether it grows unabated”.

The ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control large parts of Iraq and Syria.

Rodriguez also said that the terrorist group has started its operations there to “introduce some people over there”.

Libyan authorities have struggled to establish their writ over powerful militant groups since the 2011 uprising that toppled former dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Since 2011, eastern Libya has been the scene of numerous attacks and political assassinations amidst increasing power struggle among several militias who fought against Gaddafi during the uprising.

The former rebels refuse to lay down their arms, despite efforts by the central government to impose law and order.

Many countries have closed their consulates in Benghazi and some foreign airlines have stopped flying there. Over the past few months, Tripoli and its suburbs have been hit by violent clashes between rival militias.

In an interview with Press TV in June, American journalist Don DeBar said Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress should hold President Barack Obama responsible for launching an illegal war on Libya and destroying it.

DeBar said, “[T]here’s a major crime that took place in Libya, which was that the United States and its allies devastated the country, conquering it essentially.”