Egypt has launched air strikes against Isis targets in Libya after the militant group posted a gruesome video online showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian hostages.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi vowed to avenge the beheading on Sunday night, saying the country reserved the right to respond in a way it sees fit.
In a statement made on state radio, a spokesman for the Armed Forces General Command said warplanes had targeted training camps and weapons caches in Libya before returning safely.
Egyptians protest what they characterise as Government inaction in reaction to the kidnapping of Copts in Libya, Cairo, Egypt, 13 February 2015
It said the strikes were “to avenge the bloodshed and to seek retribution from the killers”.
“Let those far and near know that Egyptians have a shield that protects them,” it said.
The video showing the mass beheading of Egyptian Coptic Christian hostages has sparked worldwide revulsion since it was posted online yesterday.
In the UK, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: “Such barbaric acts strengthen our determination to work with our partners to counter the expanding terrorist threat to Libya and the region.
“We remain fully supportive of the UN’s efforts to build a national unity government for Libya and to bring a political solution to the ongoing security crisis. Those who support terrorists can have no part in this process.”
The US meanwhile has described the act as “despicable” and “cowardly”.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the militant group’s barbarity “knows no bounds”, adding that the the killings underscored the need for a political resolution to the conflict in Libya.
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