The reported beheadings of 30 Ethiopian Christians in Libya may indicate that the expansion of the Islamic State into North Africa is more serious than just a lone group acting in the name of the terrorist group, the Pentagon said Monday.
The Islamic State released a video Sunday that appeared to show about 15 captives beheaded on a beach and another 15 shot in the head, Reuters reported.
U.S. Central Command Commander Gen. Lloyd Austin and U.S. Africa Command Commander Gen. David Rodriguez have previously cautioned that as the Islamic State has more trouble recruiting and conducting attacks in Iraq and Syria, it would try to expand in North Africa.
On Monday Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren confirmed that growth.
“In Libya we are beginning to see what I think is more than a rebranding effort. I think Libya is probably where the Islamic State most wants to gain a foothold. They probably at this point have at least a toehold,” Warren said.
Warren said the U.S. has not acted against the Islamic State in Libya because it is focused on the air campaign against the group in Iraq and Syria, and because Congress has not passed a renewed Authorization for the Use of Military Force that would allow an U.S. expansion into additional countries.
Warren said the difference between a “rebranding” — where a terrorist group acts in the name of the Islamic State — and something more permanent — would be evidence of any operational linkages, but he did not elaborate further.
Libya has remained largely destabilized since a civil war there in 2011. In September 2012, U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other U.S. embassy personnel were killed in Benghazi, Libya, when their consulate was attacked.
