Libyan Air Force chief Saqr al-Jaroushi said nation must defend its children and air strikes killed 50 people


Pope Francis has today condemned the beheading of 21 Coptic Egyptians by ISIS militants, saying all Christians 'be they Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Lutherans' are one faith, proclaiming the murdered men martyrs.

The Pope unexpectedly went off script following a meeting with a representative of the Church of Scotland in the Vatican, making a short speech in his native Spanish in which he claimed the murdered Egyptians' last words were 'Jesus help me'.

The religious leader's unscheduled remarks followed reports by local media that another 35 Egyptians have been kidnapped in areas of Libya controlled by local Islamist militants and ISIS.

The abductions of the Egyptians came after Egypt exacted its revenge on Islamic State militants today with air strikes which a military chief claims killed at least 50 people.

Condemning: Pope Francis expressed 'profound sadness' over the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by Islamic militants in Libya, saying they had been killed for their faith

Horror: Blood is seen in the Mediterranean Sea. In the video the jihadis say they now plan to 'conquer Rome'. Italy is only 450 miles away

Horror: Released last night, a new video by ISIS showed the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians on a beach in Libya

Revenge: Egypt's Defence Ministry released these images of its air strikes today on Islamic State-held targets in Libya

Bombed: The aerial footage was released as the head of Libya's air force Saqr al-Jaroushi said the strikes had killed at least 50 people

The Libyan general told the broadcaster CBC Extra: 'Egypt has the right to defend its children and has struck in (eastern city) Derna'

Pope Francis has today expressed 'profound sadness' at hearing of the brutal murders of the 21 Christian Egyptians.

'Today I read about the execution of those twenty-one or twenty-two Coptic Christians,' the Pope said in his native Spanish according to Breitbart. 'Their only words were: "Jesus, help me!"

'They were executed for nothing more than the fact that they were Christian. The blood of our Christian sisters and brothers is testimony that cries out [to us].

'Be they Catholics, Orthodox, Copts, Lutherans, it does not matter. They are Christians, their blood is the same, their blood confesses [their faith in] Christ.'

Libyan media has reported that at least 35 Egyptian guest workers have been rounded up in areas controlled by a local Islamist group and Islamic State supporters.

In the wake of Egypt's retaliation attacks on Monday morning, at least 35 Egyptians, many of them farm workers, were picked up by gunmen, Libya Herald reports.

Egyptian and Libyan warplanes carried out a series of air strikes which hit a string of bases and weapons depots in Derna, eastern Libya.

Retaliation: Today's air strikes were carried out by warplanes from Egypt together with those from Libya, whose air force chief Saqr al-Jaroushi claimed at least 50 people had been killed

Fighters: A video image released by the Egyptian Defense Ministry, ashows an Egyptian jet landing today after carrying out raids on Islamic State targets in Libya, which has been increasingly unstable

Fightback: An F-16 fighter landing after carrying an airstrike against militants loyal to Islamic State in Derna in eastern Libya, at a military base in an undisclosed location

The Libyan general told the broadcaster CBC Extra: 'Egypt has the right to defend its children and has struck in Derna... the number of those killed is at least 50.'

Mr Jaroushi said there was a 'high level of coordination' between the two countries and added: 'We just want air strikes to hit some of the targets that are out of our reach.' There was no immediate way to verify the number of people killed.

Egypt's strikes in Libya began this morning as the country said it wanted 'retribution' for the barbaric filmed beheading of 21 Coptic Christians.

There were at least seven strikes in Derna in the east of the country, which has become a hotbed of Islamic extremism since Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011.

It is the first time Egypt has announced military action against Islamist targets in its western neighbour, having previously denied it targeted militants there, and the first time militants connected with the Islamic State terror group have been hit with airstrikes outside Syria and Iraq.

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.

The 21 men, who were Egyptian migrant workers kidnapped last month, are then seen being forced onto their knees before they are beheaded simultaneously by the militants standing behind them.

A statement released by the Egyptian military this morning said: 'Your armed forces on Monday carried out focused air strikes in Libya against Daesh camps, places of gathering and training, and weapons depots'.

Daesh is a derogatory Arabic acronym for the Islamic State terror group, commonly referred to as ISIS or ISIL in the West.

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



To their deaths: The Christian hostages were seen being marched along the beach before the beheadings

Film: The men were marched along a beach before being forced to kneel and beheaded simultaneously

'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.

Sisi, a former army chief who overthrew the Islamist president and then won elections touting his firm hand, faced a chorus of demands to retaliate after the beheadings.

Libya's air force meanwhile announced it had launched strikes in the eastern city of Darna, which was taken over by an IS affiliate last year.

The Egyptian government declared a seven-day mourning period after the release of the video and President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi addressed the nation late Sunday night.

Retaliation: Pictures claiming to be of the air strikes in Libya by Egyptian forces emerged online this morning

Blast: This morning's airstrikes were the first time Egypt announced military action against Islamist targets in its western neighbour

Target: Egypt's ministry of defence said jets had targeted weapons caches and training camps

Destroyed: There were at least seven strikes in Derna in the east of the country, which has become a hotbed of Islamic extremism

WHO ARE THE COPTIC CHRISTIANS AND WHY ARE THEY PERSECUTED? The majority of Christians in Egypt are Copts – Christians descended from ancient Egyptians. They make up roughly 10 per cent of Egypt's 84.5 million population - making them the largest Christian community in the Middle East and North Africa. The main church is the Coptic Orthodox, which split from the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches in 451AD. In recent years, Christian-Muslim relations have declined dramatically. Violent outbreaks from radical Islamists against Christians and their places of worship are one of the biggest factors in the deteriorating relationship between the two dominant religious groups. Egyptian Christians also accused the country's government of being too lenient on the perpetrators of the attacks. The main issues for Christians in Egypt are anti-Christian attacks and political instability. Historically Copts used Coptic language, which derives from the ancient Egyptian language written mainly in the Greek alphabet, which is still used for small parts of Christian services. In addition to violent outbreaks, Copts complain of discrimination. In Egypt, there is a law that requires the president's permission for church construction. Advertisement

'These cowardly actions will not undermine our determination' said el-Sisi, who also banned all travel to Libya by Egyptian citizens.

'Egypt and the whole world are in a fierce battle with extremist groups carrying extremist ideology and sharing the same goals.'

The Coptic Church issued a statement saying it was 'confident' the Christians' killers would be brought to justice, as it confirmed those beheaded were Egyptian Copts.

Al-Azhar, the prestigious Cairo-based seat of Islamic learning, denounced the killings as 'barbaric'.

Egyptian television has repeatedly played the sickening five-minute video since its release, though without the beheadings actually being shown.

Images taken from the video of waves breaking on the beach turning red from the blood of the victims spread among Egyptians on social media, enraging many.

The video, entitled 'A message signed with blood to the nation of the cross', has a scrolling caption in the first few seconds referring to the hostages as 'people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian Church'.

The makers of the video identify themselves as the Tripoli Province of the Islamic State group and had claimed in January to have abducted 21 Christians.

The video makes reference to Egyptian woman Camilia Shehata, the wife of a Coptic priest whose alleged conversion to Islam sparked a sectarian dispute in Egypt in 2010.

It says the beheadings were revenge for the treatment of Shehata, who they claim was held against her will by the Church post-conversion.

The latest ISIS video comes after the jihadis released footage earlier this month showing the gruesome burning alive of Jordanian pilot Moath al-Kasasbeh, who the group captured after his F-16 came down in Syria in December.

Militants in Libya had been holding the 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians hostage for weeks, all laborers rounded up from the city of Sirte in December and January.

The makers of the video identify themselves as the Tripoli Province of the Islamic State group.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians work in Libya, mainly in the construction sector, and they have been targeted as the country has descended into chaos.

The killings raise the possibility that the Islamic militant group - which controls about a third of Syria and Iraq in a self-declared caliphate - has established a direct affiliate less than 500 miles from the southern tip of Italy.

One of the militants in the video, speaking English, makes direct reference to that possibility, saying the group now plans to 'conquer Rome.'

The White House led condemnation of the apparent beheadings, describing the killers as 'despicable' and adding that the brutality shown 'further galvanises the international community to unite against ISIL'.

French President Francois Hollande, whose government is poised to sign a deal selling Egypt advanced Rafale fighter jets on Monday, expressed his 'concern at the expansion of Daesh in Libya'.

Fightback: Libya's air force also launched strikes in the eastern city of Darna (above), which was taken over by an IS affiliate last year

Damage: Images reportedly from the ground show cars and building have been destroyed

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (right) offers condolences to Pope Tawadros II (left) of Alexandria - the head of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church earlier this morning (pictured in this image and below)

Grief: Egyptian Coptic men mourn for the 21 Coptic Egyptian men murdered by Islamic State militants in Libya

Inconsolable: The men are seen mourning for the 21 Coptic Egyptian men murdered by ISIS on the Libyan beach

Relatives and mourners gather outside a church in al-Aour village in Egypt for the funeral of Coptic Christians who were kidnapped and killed by Islamic extremists in Libya (pictured in this image and below)

Christians gather outside a church in al-Aour village, Minya governorate, Egypt for the funeral of those killed

13 of the 21 Coptic Christians murdered by ISIS were originally from al-Aour village, Minya governorate, Egypt

Libya's embattled parliament, which is locked in a conflict with Islamists, expressed condolences in a statement and called on the world to 'show solidarity with Libya'.

IS militants have been hammered by U.S.-led air strikes in Iraq and Syria after taking over swathes of the two countries and the group has active affiliates in Egypt and Libya.

In recent months Libya has seen the worst unrest since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi, which will complicate any efforts to combat the country's many Islamic extremist groups.

The internationally-recognised government has been confined to the country's far east since Islamist-allied militias seized the capital Tripoli last year, and Islamist politicians have reconstituted a previous government and parliament.

Egypt has strongly backed the government, and U.S. officials have said both Egypt and the United Arab Emirates took part in a series of air strikes targeting Islamist-allied forces last year.

Yesterday, images emerged of ISIS militants publicly executing two alleged spies and mercilessly crucifying another to a road sign in the Syrian city of Al-Bab.

On Thursday, the extremist group announced it was holding an Israeli-Arab who posed as foreign a fighter to spy for the country's intelligence agency, Mossad.

Tears: Family members of some of the 21 Coptic Christians murdered by ISIS militants in Libya weep outside their home in el-Aour village

Anger: This picture and the one below shows Coptic men, whose relatives were abducted by Islamic State militants in the Libyan city of Sirte more than a month ago, protesting at the Coptic cathedral in Cairo, Egypt

Family members of abducted Coptic Christian Malak Ibrahim sit at home in the village of el-Aour in Egypt

Relatives of murdered Samuel Walham weep in the village of el-Aour in Egypt (this image and below)

The air strikes came hours after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (pictured) threatened a 'suitable response' to the killings of the Christians

Crunch talks: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (centre) surrounded by top military generals at an emergency meeting in Cairo yesterday