Libyan official: ‘Foreign fighters smuggled into Libya, Egypt, via Sudan’

New batches of foreign fighters are being smuggled into Libya and Egypt via Sudanese territory, according to a senior Libyan official.

The London-based Asharq Al Awsat newspaper reported on Tuesday that Islamic state (IS) fighters are entering Libya and Egypt via the tri-border area with Sudan each day.

Eisa Abdelmajid, advisor to the head of the Libyan parliament, said that an average of 50 vehicles carrying extremist Muslim fighters and arms cross the Sudanese-Egyptian border at Jebel El Oweinat near El Kufra every day.

This happens in addition to the transport of fighters and weapons by air, from Khartoum to Mitiga airport in Tripoli, which is controlled by extremists, he said.

Last year, Libya repeatedly accused Sudan of smuggling militant extremists into the country. Gen. Khalifa Haftar, the leader of Operation Dignity fighting Islamist militias in Libya called Sudan’s position on fighting terrorism in Libya “ambiguous”.

In late September, Libyan border guards intercepted a convoy of vehicles carrying Yemeni fighters into the country via the area of El Kufra on the Sudan-Libya border.

The authorities of El Kufra airport earlier that month grounded a Sudanese military aircraft bound for Tripoli, that was reportedly laden with weapons.