TRIPOLI, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Libyan experts believe that the Islamic State (IS) group is unable to control cities and towns in Libya again, despite efforts to reorganize through a new mobilized army in the desert.
The chief investigator of the Libyan Attorney General's office, Al-Siddiq Al-Sour, announced at a press conference on Thursday that IS has formed a new force called "the desert army" as an attempt to gain more control in Libya.
"Investigations with arrested IS members showed that the terrorist group fled to the Libyan south in valleys and mountains before and shortly after their defeat in Sirte. They formed a force they call Desert Army," Al-Sour said.
The so-called army of IS is commanded by Al-Mahdi Dangu, a Libyan extremist also known as "Abu-Barakat," Al- Sour revealed.
Mohammed al-Khoja, a Libyan researcher on terrorist groups, said the group has not acknowledged defeat yet.
"IS was defeated in Benghazi and Sirte. Most of the group's leaders are pursued at home and abroad. Therefore, the group headed to the south and center of the country, where the vast desert and the valleys are located. It aims to use these sites as temporary strongholds, in which they attempt to regroup following the unprecedented defeat after taking over nearly a third of Libya," al-Khoja told Xinhua.
Al-Khoja pointed out that the Libyan IS style is very similar to the style of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, where they used the Algerian desert as a shelter for a long time after being expelled by the Algerian army by the end of the 1990s.
"The resemblance is very much today," al-Khoja said, referring to a recent video showing IS in Libya moving in the south of the country and setting up training camps in empty valleys.
IS in Libya last week posted a video online showing dozens of members and commanders traveling in Libyan valleys and desert. The video showed the terrorists training on gun firing on mountains in southern Libya. The footage revealed terrorist attacks carried out recently, including a suicide car bomb attack targeting the army-controlled town of Neufliyah in the east, and another attack on the Gate of Aljafra in August, which killed more than 12 soldiers.
Al-Siddiq Al-Sour said that there are 827 internal arrest warrants for IS member suspects and 50 international arrest warrants for IS leaders, many of who are Libyans. 250 IS members and leaders have been interrogated with and will be brought to trial for terrorist crimes, Al-Sour added.
Khalid Turjoman, head of the National Action Group, said the group had plans for establishing an army, but none of the arrests was aware of the strategy.
"I think the desert army is operating in the southeast of the country because it is a vast desert area that is difficult to monitor continuously," Turjoman told Xinhua. "It was an alternative plan IS had in the event of defeat."
"I do not believe IS has the power to take control of Libyan cities and towns again. However, the group will try to retaliate against the army forces by suicide bombs to prove its presence," Turjoman added.
Hundreds of IS militants fled to desert and valleys in southern and central Libya following military operations by the eastern-based army in Benghazi and the troops of the Tripoli-based UN-backed government in Sirte.
