Katiba al-Bittar al-Libi is an armed Islamist group operating in Iraq , Syria and Libya . The group is composed largely of Libyan fighters who entered Syria in the wake of the Arab Spring and early post-civil uprising stage of the Syrian Civil War . Though the group is composed largely of Libyans , the group also has large amounts of Tunisians and Francophone Maghrebis from Europe , reportedly the perpetrators of the November 2015 Paris attacks and Manchester Arena bombing , including Abdelhamid Abaaoud , who was suspected to be a leader of the group , were members of the group or affiliated with it , the group also pioneered the Inghimasi tactic used in the attack , and its fighters have largely employed the tactic on the battlefield . The group maintained close ties to Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia through networks in Libya and has established multiple training camps across Libya and has recruited Tunisians to these camps , which were located around Sirte and Tripoli . During beginning of the infighting between ISIL and its former allies such as Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham fighters from Katiba al-Bittar took part in open fighting against ISIL 's opponents in Markada and Atarib , in the process losing several fighters
Manchester Arena bombing
Manchester Arena bombing
Katiba al-Bittar al-Libi