ISIS' incredible show of force on Europe's doorstep

Men, women and children cheer and salute the pick-up trucks as they drive freely through what is believed to be the city of Benghazi. 

The carefully produced propaganda video was uploaded by terrorist group Ansar al-Sharia on February 5.

The group declared city an 'Islamic emirate' in July 2014 before pledging allegiance to Islamic State just three months later. In November of that year, the UN blacklisted it as a terrorist organisation.

The group was widely blamed for the death of US Ambassador Christopher Stephens in Benghazi in 2012. And only this week, it was linked to the bloody executions of 21 Egyptian Christians on a beach in Libya.

Fears of an equally brutal execution were raised following the news that 35 more Egyptians may have been kidnapped by Jihadists in the country.

The latest abduction is thought to be a direct response to Egyptian airstrikes on extremist locations in the Libyan city of Derna, following the mass murder of their countrymen.

The Islamic Youth Shura Council - a branch of Ansar Al-Sharia - was responsible for the very first footage of a beheading to surface from the North-African country.

In November 2014, it released footage showing the murder of an Egyptian soldier who publicly supported his government's forces led by General Khalifa Haftar.

Masked men in camouflage cut Muftah el-Nazihi's neck with a knife before removing his head and placing it on his back. 

The group has been enforcing Sharia Law by carrying out public beheadings and beatings in Libya since their formation in at least August 2014.

Power exorcised by radical groups like the Islamic Youth Shura Council continued to grow until February this year when the Islamic State of Levant self-declared 'caliphate' in Sirte - where 21 Egyptians were believed to be beheaded recently.

Its fighters traveled to the district in 40 heavily armoured cars and ordered residents to follow Islamic State's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

He has since appointed Ali Al-Qarqaa as Libya's Emir- or leader - meaning control over the country's fractured terror groups falls to him according to Gulf-based analyst Dr Theodore Karasik.

He told MailOnline: 'Libya is seen by North Africans now as the place to go spread the Caliphate. Unlike a few years ago, when everyone was leaving Libya to go to the Levant, you now have people going back.

'Because the idea of 'state' is there and now with the executions, they will feel like there are enough numbers on the ground to fight. They know at the same time the West is slow at acting.'

Three years after the removal of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi as the country's ruler, Libya's main cities have surrendered control to a melting pot of extremist groups. 

Most of them - including Ansar al-Sharia, Libya Dawn and the Islamic Youth Shura Council - have pledged their allegiance to Islamic State who seek to use the country's location to establish a foothold in North Africa. 

(dailymail.co.uk)