Libya faces enormous security challenge - U.S. diplomat

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns attends a meeting with Egypt's interim President Adli Mansour at El-Thadiya presidential palace in Cairo, July 15, 2013. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, the most senior U.S. official to visit Libya since a deadly 2012 attack on a U.S. compound there, said on Thursday Libya was facing a severe challenge from an increase in extremist violence. "Rising violent extremism is an enormous challenge first for Libya but also for Libya's international partners," he told a news conference after talks in the capital Tripoli. Washington recognised the severity of that threat, he added. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing, Writing by William Maclean)