Expert warns against ISIS’s use of Sudanese border to join Libya
February 11, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The Islamic State (ISIS) fighters are trying to use Khartoum as crossing point for its militants who join the bases of the jihadist group in Libya, said a Sudanese expert on Islamist group on Thursday.
Tigchelt further told the Belgian magazine Knack that they have no information about other cases of Belgian fighters who travelled into Libya but they are monitoring the situation.
Commenting on the arrest of the Belgian militant, a Sudanese expert on Islamic extremist groups, al-Hadi Mohammed al-Amin, told Sudan Tribune that the Jihadist group which is facing tough time in Syria and Iraq try to use Sudan as a crossing point into Libya.
Al-Amin said this was not the first time that a foreign jihadist is stopped by the Sudanese authorities while he was trying to cross into the north African country.
He pointed to case of the Indian militant who had being arrested in Khartoum last December by the Sudanese service while he was trying to join the ISIS in Libya. The Hindustan Times reported that The 23-year old computer expert was the first Indian to by deployed by the jihadist group in Libya.
The Sudanese expert said Khartoum delivered him to the Indian authorities pointing that the Sudanese security had received the information about his movements from the Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Al-Amin stressed that the two cases indicate that ISIS tries through its dormant terrorist cells in Sudan to smuggle its foreign fighters into Libya across the vast border with the Sudan.
He added that the Islamic State seeks to transfer its activities to Libya where it established a foothold in the city of Sirte, exploiting a power vacuum in the troubled country where two rival governments have been battling for supremacy.
The Sudanese expert said Khartoum deployed military units along the border and monitoring the border particularly the triangle between Egypt, Libya and Sudan at Jebel Aouinat.
On 19 January 2016, the head of the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) Mohamed Atta, said it would deploy troops to the western borders with Libya to prevent infiltration of ISIS fighters and combat cross-border crimes.
(ST)