UNITED NATIONS, Aug 21, (AP): Islamic State extremists are exploiting instability in Africa and Syria and remain a significant threat in Afghanistan, Central Asia and Europe, UN counterterrorism experts said Wednesday. The militant group is now using advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, and social media, which poses a new challenge, the experts told a UN Security Council meeting.

The Islamic State group declared a self-styled caliphate in a large swath of Syria and Iraq that it seized in 2014. It was declared defeated in Iraq in 2017 following a three-year battle that left tens of thousands of people dead and cities in ruins, but its sleeper cells remain in both countries and it has affiliates and supporters in many other countries.

The UN has seen a resurgence of activity by the Islamic State in the Sahel - in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - and in West Africa the group has emerged "as a prolific producer of terrorist propaganda and attracted foreign terrorist fighters, primarily from within the region,” said Vladimir Voronkov, who heads the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism.

He said arrests in Libya have revealed logistics and financing networks with connections to IS in the Sahel. In Somalia, Voronkov said, a large-scale IS attack was countered by Somali security forces and some 200 IS fighters were killed and over 150 arrested. But he said despite the losses IS still benefits from regional support networks and remains a threat.

In northcentral Africa’s Lake Chad Basin region, the Islamic State is "increasingly receiving foreign material and human support to conduct its operations, including money, drones and expertise on improvised explosive devices,” said Natalia Gherman, who heads the executive directorate of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee.

"Its ability to adapt and exploit instability continues to pose significant challenges, particularly in parts of Africa,” she said. "The continent bears over half the world’s fatalities from terrorist attacks.” In the Middle East, Voronkov said IS is active in Iraq and Syria, where it is trying to restore its operations in the northwest Badia desert region and renew effort to destabilize local authorities.