An armed motorcade proceeds along a road in Derna, eastern Libya, Oct. 3.

TRIPOLI — With Libya engulfed in chaos, the town of Derna in the east of the largely lawless country is emerging as a new stronghold for the “Islamic State”, experts say.

The North African state has been wracked by instability since the overthrow of autocratic leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, providing a fertile ground for Islamic extremists.

IS fighters have already swept across Iraq and Syria, and their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi recently boasted of vows of allegiance from militants in Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Some Western observers consider Derna, a town of 150,000, to be the home of a third IS franchise in North Africa, after Jund al-Khalifa in Algeria and Egypt’s Ansar Beit al-Maqdis declared their support earlier this year.

Statements and images have for several weeks circulated on extremist forums claiming to depict gatherings of “Libyan jihadis” belonging to the group – prompting concern in Washington.

“We have seen reports that violent extremists [in Libya] have pledged allegiance to IS and are looking to associate themselves with it,” State Department spokesman Jeffrey Rathke said.

Libyan authorities have struggled to control militant groups as well as powerful militias which ousted Gadhafi, and the internationally recognized government has been forced to take refuge in the far east of the oil-rich country.

Derna and large areas of Benghazi, Libya’s second city, have served as strongholds for radical groups including Ansar al-Shariah, classed by the U.N. as a terrorist organization.

In April, an offshoot of the group announced it had implemented Islamic Shariah law in Derna.

The self-proclaimed “Shura Council of Islamic Youth” has reportedly opened Islamic courts and established a religious police force in the town.