Libyan PM warns terrorists could be entering Europe posing as refugees

Terrorists could be entering Europe on boats posing as refugees, the prime minister of Libya has warned.

Falez Serrai, who is head of the UN-backed unity government in the country’s capital Tripoli, told The Times that potential attackers may be among thousands of migrants able to cross the Mediterreanean And he warned that this could have dire consequences for Europe.

He said: “When migrants reach Europe, they will move freely.

“If, God forbid, there are terrorist elements among the migrants, a result of any incident will affect all of the EU.”

Mr Serrai’s comments come less than a week after a terrorist cell killed 15 people in Barcelona, Spain.

Police have linked the killers to radical groups in north Africa.

Nearly 100,000 migrants have made the crossing from Libya to Italy so far this year, with at 700,000 migrants still estimated to be in the country.

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Luigi Di Maio, believed to be the probable candidate for prime minister of Italy for the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, said that his country was becoming the “refugee camp of Europe”.

He said: “We have 10 million Italians living in poverty, while migrants are being given €38 a day to live.

“It’s a pressure cooker that could explode.”