Tryst with Modern Jihadi Terrorism: By the mid-nineties, Libya was faced with a peculiar situation. The Gaddafi regime, which had successfully masterminded several acts of terrorism outside its soil, was now the target of radical elements within its territory. The veterans of the Afghan war included several thousand Libyans, some of whom returned to Libya to form the Libyan Islamic Fighting group (LIFG), with the aim to overthrow Gaddafi and establish an Islamic state based on Shariah laws.
The North African State of Libya has been in the news recently for reasons other than the controversial antics of its President, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. The capture of the Al Qaeda operative, Abu Firaj al Libby, a Libyan citizen, in early May this year in Mardan (Pakistan) calls for a deeper study of the Al Qaeda-Libya connection. Almost exactly a month later, on June 3, 2005, Libya was in the news again when it was reported that an Al Qaeda cell in Libya had threatened an attack on the northeast coastal city of Darna if one of its cell leaders was not released from prison.