Italian President Says ISIL Uses Libya As Base for Plotting Terror Attacks

Italian President Sergio Mattarella said that the expansion of ISIL militant group in Libya is alarming, since it risks becoming a base for insurgents’ terrorist activities.

ROME (Sputnik) – The expansion of Islamic State (ISIL) militant group in Libya is alarming, since it risks becoming a base for insurgents’ terrorist activities, Italian President Sergio Mattarella told CNN Thursday.

“ISIS is spreading inside Libya and there is the risk of it transforming that country into a basis for its terrorist activities into Europe,” Mattarella told CNN.

Mattarella also said that the ISIL militants posed a threat to civilization, democracy and human rights.

Libya is currently facing the worst upsurge in violence since the beginning of the civil war after overthrow of country’s leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Last week, ISIL militants carried out a bomb attack on a police station near the Libyan capital of Tripoli.

On Wednesday, two unidentified gunmen, disguised as soldiers, attacked the Bardo museum in Tunisia's capital city of Tunis taking tourists hostages. At least 20 people were killed in the attack, including four Italians.