It also has support in Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan. And the leader of the group ravaging northern Nigeria, Boko Haram, has expressed his admiration of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The savage killing of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya — all of them dressed in ISIS’ trademark orange prison garb — is another indication of ISIS’ ability to take advantage of collapsed or collapsing states and of its growing presence in North Africa. Most significantly, the atrocity took place in Sirte, a long way from ISIS’ first stronghold around Derna in the east of the country.
ISIS’ presence in Sirte, a town of 50,000, has been growing. The Egyptians were abducted in November, and more recently, the extremists strengthened their presence by taking over government buildings and a radio station.
In Libya since autumn
ISIS first announced itself in Libya in October. Amateur video showed a large crowd of militants in Derna affiliated with the Shura Council for the Youth of Islam chanting their allegiance to al-Baghdadi. Sources told CNN at the time that ISIS had up to 800 fighters in the area as well as training facilities in the nearby Green Mountains. They were bolstered by the return from Syria and Iraq of up to 300 Libyan jihadists.
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Several commanders of the Pakistani Taliban also pledged to al-Baghdadi, but it’s unclear yet whether their departure has more to do with the rifts that have torn the group apart in the last two years. The Long War Journal concluded that most of the new ISIS group were low- to mid-level militants — a sign of “the competition between smaller and emerging militant groups in South Asia, some of which are seeking to align with the Islamic State brand.” within the group.
The most intriguing development in recent months has been the desire of the Nigerian group Boko Haram to fly the ISIS flag, literally and metaphorically. It has begun to hold territory and talk of its own Caliphate in northern Nigeria. Its propaganda machine has become much more ISIS-like. And it has incorporated the ISIS symbol into its own flag.
It has also begun inflicting ever more gruesome punishments, including beheadings, on its victims. Boko Haram’s leader, Abu Bakr Shekau, has expressed his admiration for ISIS and al-Baghdadi on more than one occasion — but ISIS has not officially acknowledged any link between the two groups.
For now at least, it is the long coast of Libya and its deep empty interior, its lack of government and many porous borders that seem the most promising territory for ISIS.
