More and more splintered Islamist groups in Libya are joining the barbaric Islamic State, drawn by its success in Iraq and Syria, terror expert Guido Steinberg warned in an interview with Deutsche Welle.

Steinberg argues that, although it seemed at first that these small groups were simply claiming to be IS, it recently became obvious that they have ISIS contacts.

“That leaves room for us to worry that the IS organization is building an international network, just like al Qaeda did after 2001, and that they’re growing stronger because of it,” he said.

According to The Telegraph, IS militants are planning a takeover of strife-plagued Libya as a “gateway” to wage war across the whole of southern Europe.

It is reminded that a few days ago, the Islamic State released a video that showed the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians on a beach somewhere in Libya. Hours after the release, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned that his country would respond to the deaths.

The five-minute video showing the captive men has been confirmed as authentic. It appeared on a Twitter feed of a pro-terrorist website.