Ansar al-Sharia is the Derna based branch of a larger Libyan group; the branch is headed by Abu Sufian bin Qumu. In 2011 bin Qumu became the leader of a band of fighters in his hometown of Derna during the

2011 Libyan civil war The Libyan civil war, also known as the First Libyan Civil War and Libyan Revolution, was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were ...

. The group was reported as disbanding itself following the U.S. Consulate attack in Benghazi however by late 2013 the group had re-emerged in the city as a branch of the Benghazi-based Ansar al-Sharia under the slogan "A step toward building the Islamic state". In December 2014, Ansar al-Sharia joined the Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade and Jaysh al-Islami al-Libi in an umbrella organisation called the Majlis Shura al-Mujahidin Derna (Derna Mujahidin Consultative Council). The group has been involved in fighting with the forces of General

Khalifa Haftar Khalifa Haftar (; born 7 November 1943) is a Libyan-American politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA). In 2015, he was appointed commander of the armed forces loyal to the 2014 Libyan parliam ...

in the

Second Libyan Civil War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

. Ansar al-Sharia and the Majlis Shura al-Mujahidin Derna have opposed the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant presence in Derna.

References

Organizations established in 2011 2011 establishments in Libya Jihadist groups in Libya Organizations based in Africa designated as terrorist Derna, Libya {{Libya-stub

See also

References