Fighters
pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
have released a video purporting to show the killing of 21 Egyptian
Coptic Christians kidnapped in Libya.
The Egyptian government and the Coptic Church have confirmed the authenticity of the footage.
It showed the Egyptian workers, all wearing orange jump suits, being
beheaded near a waterfront which is said to be located in the Libyan
province of Tripoli.
The men were seized in two attacks in December and January from the coastal town of Sirte in eastern Libya.
In the wake of the video release, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah
el-Sisi has called for an urgent meeting with Egypt's top national
security and declared seven days of mourning.
He said Egypt reserves the right to respond to the incident in a suitable way.
The Coptic Orthodox Church has issued a statement saying it is confident the killers will be brought to justice.
Egypt
launched airstrikes against Islamic State targets in neighboring Libya
on Monday, hours after militants there released a video purporting to
show the mass beheading of Egyptian Christian hostages.
A
spokesman for the Armed Forces General Command announced the strikes on
state radio, and said they were "to avenge the bloodshed and to seek
retribution from the killers," the Associated Press reported.
The
statement said the warplanes targeted weapons caches and training camps
before returning safely. "Let those far and near know that Egyptians
have a shield that protects them," it said.
It marks the first
time Cairo has publicly acknowledged taking military action in Libya,
where extremist groups seen as a threat to both countries have taken
root in recent years.
A spokesman for Libyan Prime Minister
Abdullah al-Thinni told the BBC that Egyptian jets had taken part in
co-ordinated air strikes on the militant-held city of Derna.
Libya's
air force said it had launched strikes in the eastern city of Darna,
which was taken over by an Islamic State affiliate last year. The
announcement, on the Facebook page of the Air Force Chief of Staff, did
not provide further details.
Meanwhile, Bahrain said it deployed fighter planes to Jordan, a day after it announced plans to send troops to the kingdom.
Bahrain
and Jordan are part of the U.S.-led coalition carrying out airstrikes
against the Islamic State, also known as ISIL and ISIS.
On Sunday,
a video purporting to show the mass beheading the hostages by militants
in Libya claiming loyalty to ISIL was posted on social media. On
Twitter, several accounts distributed links to the video carrying the
title, "A Message Signed With Blood To The Nation Of The Cross."
Militants
in Libya had been holding 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians hostage for
weeks, threatening them with death. The makers of the video identify
themselves as the Tripoli Province of the Islamic State group — the
Islamic militant group that controls about a third of Syria and Iraq.
The video shows a line of men dressed in orange jumpsuits forced onto their knees and beheaded.
The
Egyptian government and the Coptic Church based in Egypt both declared
the video authentic. Egypt banned all travel to Libya by its citizens in
response.
The Egyptian government declared a seven-day mourning
period, and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi addressed the nation late
Sunday night.
"These cowardly actions will not undermine our
determination" Sisi said. "Egypt and the whole world are in a fierce
battle with extremist groups carrying extremist ideology and sharing the
same goals." Contributing: Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA TODAY; Associated Press
A family member of one of Egyptian Coptic Christian workers who have been kidnapped in the Libyan city of Sirte, sits crying in front of a banner with pictures of the workers, in Cairo, Feb. 13, 2015. (Reuters)
Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab said on Friday that the fate of 21 Coptic Christians held hostage in neighboring Libya by militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria group remains unknown.
Websites affiliated with ISIS on Thursday released photos allegedly for Egyptians hostages wearing orange jumpsuits. The group claimed the men had been captured to avenge what they say is the kidnapping of Muslim women by the Egyptian Coptic Church.
Mahlab said the Egyptian authorities are closely following up on the situation as per the instructions of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the semi-official Ahram Online website reported.
"Egyptian blood is precious to all of us," Mahlab told a press conference.
The premier also met with the families of the kidnaped to reassure them and update them with the latest developments.
The release of the undated pictures sparked fury among the families of the detainees, who traveled to Cairo from Egypt’s governorate of Minya to protest what they said was the government’s inaction.
“We want our kidnapped children back,” they shouted at a demonstration they held outside the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate, privately-owned Youm7 newspaper reported.
Mahlab pledged a monthly allowance to the families and a place to stay in until the issue is resolved, Ahram Online said.
A statement from the president’s office on Thursday said a special committee was “following the matter minute-by-minute.”
Calling the abducted men “Coptic crusaders,” the report says that Egyptian Christian women who converted to Islam were “tortured and murdered” by the Coptic Orthodox Church.
There are spats between some Coptic Christians and Muslims in Egypt over the allegations that the Orthodox Church in the country is not allowing Christian women to convert to Islam. However, the allegations were never made on an official level.
Fighters of the Kurdish People's Protection
Units (YPG) patrol in the streets of the northern Syrian town of Kobani
January 28, 2015.
Credit: Reuters/Osman Orsal
(Reuters) - Islamic State's defeat in Kobani and other recent setbacks in Syria suggest the group is under strain but far from collapse in the Syrian half of its self-declared caliphate. Islamic State's
high-profile defeat by Kurdish militia backed by U.S.-led air strikes
capped a four-month battle that cost Islamic State 2,000 of its
fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which
tracks the war.
