‘Black flags’ sprouting across Tripoli heightened the Maltese diplomats’ fear for their own safety.

“Fear was compounded by discourse about the radicalisation of Benghazi and the arrival of the Islamic State in Libya.

“Unfortunately when I spoke of this possibility a while ago I was right as today this has become a reality – IS are already in Libya and there have also been reported sightings of black flags in Tripoli,” Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella said yesterday.

No country is immune to extremists and the government is aware it has to be vigilant

In August, after Islamic militants reinstated Libya’s former parliament in Tripoli, Dr Vella had urged vigilance at the possible infiltration of extremists from IS into Libya and possibly Malta.

Termed terrorists by the UN, EU and UAE among others, the militant group – formerly known as Isis – has captured large swathes of Iraq and Syria. The international world is now accustomed to its black-and-white flag. whose bearers have beheaded journalists and aid workers in the Middle East.

The flag in fact shows the Seal of Mohammed within a white circle, with the phrase above it, ‘There is no God but Allah’.

Dr Vella had said that no country was immune to extremists and the government was aware it had to be vigilant.

Last week international media reported that the black IS flag was flying over government buildings in the Libyan city of Derna, not far from the Egyptian border.

Yesterday, the minister said the flags had now also been seen in Tripoli.

These sightings were also mentioned by the Libya Herald, which over the weekend reported Libya Dawn’s denial that the Islamic State was in Tripoli or western Libya.

The online daily said the statement was being seen as an attempt by Libya Dawn to explain away the growing extremism in the west, despite the fact that IS flags were reportedly seen recently in Tripoli.