Egypt retaliates with airstrikes after Jihadists behead 21 Christians in Libya

oge okonkwo

February 16, 2015 3:07 PM

The strikes are in response to a gruesome video, released last night, showing a group of orange jumpsuit-clad Coptic Christians being marched to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea by masked, knife-wielding militants

Egypt has launched airstrikes on Islamic State militants in Libya after they had filmed and uploaded a barbaric beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians.

Reports say there were at least seven strikes in the morning of February 16, at Derna in the east of Libya - a hot area of Islamic extremism since Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011.

Twenty-one men said to be Egyptian migrant workers kidnapped last month, were shown being marched down the shores of the Mediterranean Sea by masked, knife-wielding militants.

They were simultaneously beheaded.

Egyptian state television followed up the military statement by showing footage of warplanes it said were taking off to conduct the strikes.

'Avenging Egyptian blood and retaliating against criminals and killers is a duty we must carry out,' the military said.

The air strikes came hours after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi threatened a 'suitable response' to the killings of the Christians who had travelled to Libya seeking work.

oge okonkwo