Egypt says it has carried out air attacks on locations in Libya believed to be occupied by Islamic State.
The attack is part of Egyptian response to a video released by Islamic State showing the killing of about 21 Members of Egypt”s Coptic church in Libya.
Report says the joint attack carried out with Libya’s Airforce hit Islamic State camps, training sites and weapons storage areas in Libya.
A Libyan official, Saqer al-Joroushi told Egyptian state television between 40 to 50 militants were killed in the attack. “There are casualties among individuals, ammunition and the (Islamic State) communication centres,”
He said “More air strikes will be carried out today and tomorrow in coordination with Egypt.”
The Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaking on a National Television shortly after the release of the video, said his country would react on the deaths of its citizen as it deems fit.
Acccording to him, necessary means and timing would be choosen by Cairo for the avenge of the 21 Egyptian christian brutal killing.
Sisi, who said he met with the country’s top military commanders to discuss the killings, called for seven-day mourning .
The killing was showed in a video released on sunday morning by the jihadist group on a social media.
The beheaded Egyptian Copts were captured in Libya by the Islamic group for some time and later killed..
In the video, militants in black marched the captives, dressed in orange jump suits, to a beach and were forced on their knees, then beheaded.
The Five minute video appeared on the twitter feed of a website that supports the Islamic State with the caption: “The people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church.
In the video, a militants stood with a knife in his hand before the killings, saying “Safety for you crusaders is something you can only wish for.”
A statement by the Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox church on Sunday which confirmed the incident said it was “confident” that those who beheaded a group of Egyptian Copts in Libya will be punished.
Meanwhile the United States on Sunday condemned the killing describing the act as despicable and cowardly murder.
