First few tourists visit Libya but security threats remain

FILE PHOTO: An empty passageway is pictured outside a mud-brick house, within the enclosed Libyan desert oasis town of Ghadames, a designated UNESCO World Heritage site, April 20, 2013. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny/File Photo

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Italian student Edoardo Arione felt "a little afraid" when he joined a rare tourist group trip to Libya this month but he said he soon enjoyed the visit to desert cities and Roman ruins in a country unsettled by years of chaos.

Libya has had little peace and few tourists since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi that unleashed a decade of violent unrest as armed groups seized control of territory and battles raged in its cities.