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Egypt’s Military Strikes ISIS In Libya

February 16, 2015
Egyptian jet shortly before take off to strike targets in Libya
Egyptian jet shortly before take off to strike targets in Libya

Egypt’s armed forces carried out airstrikes against Islamic State Fighters in Libya on Monday dawn, hours after a video surfaced showing the beheadings of 21 Egyptian nationals in Libya.

The armed forces said in a statement that the strike was “precise,” adding that the air force troops have safely returned to their bases.

The army said the target of the strikes is “training points and weapons and ammunition storage” sites belonging to the Islamic State Fighters in Iraq and Syria, on Libyan soil.

A video was released on Sunday night, titled “a message signed with blood to the nation of the cross.” It showed masked men beheading 21 Egyptian Copts who had been kidnapped in Libya for weeks.

The men responsible for the beheading are believed to belong to a division of Islamic State Fighters in Libya.

In response, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in a televised address that “Egypt reserves the right to respond in the method and timing it deems suitable for retribution from these killers.”

The decision to strike Libyan targets comes after an urgent meeting of Egypt’s National Defence Council, which Sisi called for.

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