AFRICOM commander: Islamic State cell in Libya looks to 'export terror into Europe'

STUTTGART, Germany, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The top commander of U.S. Africa Command said a growing Islamic State affiliate in Libya is looking to use a stronghold on the northern Mediterranean coast to launch terrorist attacks abroad, including in Europe.

In the violence following the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, a group known as Majlis Shura Shabab al-Islam in November 2014 pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before seizing the city of Sirte, on Libya's northern Mediterranean coast, earlier this year.

The group now calls itself the Tripoli Province of the Islamic State and has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks and public executions, including the February decapitation of 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt.

Speaking to Voice of America during an interview at Kelley Barracks, in Stuttgart, Germany, Vice Admiral Michael Franken, the deputy for military operations at AFRICOM, said IS manpower in Sirte currently stands at 2,000, up from 200 in February.