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Egyptian Church confirms 21 killed in Libya after Islamic State issues video
Yahoo ^ | February 15, 2015

Posted on 02/15/2015 2:43:50 PM PST by NYer


Yahoo Canada News - "HORRIBLE PHOTOS reveal ISIS marched 21 Coptic Christians to beach, beheaded them all" Image via Twitter/ @trscoop / The Right Scoop

CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State released a video on Sunday purporting to show the beheading of a group of Egyptian Christians kidnapped in Libya, violence likely to deepen Cairo's concerns over security threats from militants thriving in the neighboring country's chaos.

Egypt's state news agency MENA quoted the spokesman for the Coptic Church as confirming that 21 Egyptian Christians believed to be held by Islamic State were dead.

In the video, militants in black marched the captives, dressed in orange jump suits, to a beach the group said was near Tripoli. They were forced down onto their knees, then beheaded.

The video appeared on the Twitter feed of a website that supports Islamic State, which has seized parts of Iraq and Syria and has also beheaded Western hostages.

A caption on the five-minute video read: "The people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church."

Thousands of Egyptians have traveled to Libya in search of jobs since an uprising at home in 2011, despite advice from their government not to go to a country sliding into lawlessness.

Before the killings, one of the militants stood with a knife in his hand and said: "Safety for you crusaders is something you can only wish for."

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called a seven-day mourning period and an urgent meeting of Egypt's top military commanders, state television reported.

The Coptic Church said it was confident the Cairo government would seek justice. Al Azhar, the center of Islamic learning in Egypt, said no religion would accept such "barbaric" acts.

The families of the kidnapped workers had urged Cairo to help secure their release. In the southerly Minya Governorate, relatives screamed and fainted upon hearing news of the deaths.

CONCERNS ABOUT LIBYA

Sisi has repeatedly expressed concerns about militants based in Libya who are seeking to topple his government.

Those militants have made contact with Sinai Province, a group operating from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula that has changed its name from Ansar Beyt al-Maqdis and pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

The group has killed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police since the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

With Libya caught in a chaotic power struggle between two rival factions operating their own governments, Western officials fear Islamist militants are taking advantage of the turmoil to strengthen their presence.

A number of Islamist militant groups have been active since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 left Libya without a strong central government. A few have declared ties to the radical Islamic State and claimed high-profile attacks over recent weeks in what appears to be an intensifying campaign.

Last month, Islamic State claimed responsibility when at least two gunmen stormed into the five-star Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli, killing nine people, including an American security contractor and a Frenchman.

Fears that the crisis in neighboring Libya could spill across the border have prompted Egypt to upgrade its military hardware. French President Francois Hollande has said Egypt will order 24 Rafale fighter jets, a naval frigate and related military equipment in a deal to be signed in Cairo on Monday worth more than 5 billion euros ($5.7 billion).


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News
KEYWORDS: armsdeals; armssales; beheading; beheadings; christianpersecution; christians; coptic; copticchristians; coptics; copts; egypt; egyptianbeheadings; egyptianchristians; france; isis; libya; rop; trop
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To: NYer

21 posted on 02/15/2015 3:55:58 PM PST by DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis
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To: faithhopecharity

Good news is that Americans are armed to the teeth.


22 posted on 02/15/2015 4:24:52 PM PST by Biggirl (2014 MIdterms Were BOTH A Giant Wave And Restraining Order)
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To: elpadre

....No wonder Americans have bought guns and ammo the last couple of years. More likely going to be used.


23 posted on 02/15/2015 4:26:02 PM PST by Biggirl (2014 MIdterms Were BOTH A Giant Wave And Restraining Order)
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To: WVNan

Doing what “their god”, the devil is telling them to do!


24 posted on 02/15/2015 4:27:22 PM PST by Biggirl (2014 MIdterms Were BOTH A Giant Wave And Restraining Order)
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To: NYer

25 posted on 02/15/2015 5:41:36 PM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis

26 posted on 02/15/2015 5:47:34 PM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

Typical moozlums.


27 posted on 02/15/2015 6:11:19 PM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: WVNan

Not to mention the really, eally devout ones take pride in developing a callous/bump on their forehead from thumping their heads on the floor when praying.


28 posted on 02/15/2015 7:00:55 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: NYer

Why would Egyptians travel to Libya? Libya is the one place worse off than Egypt over there.


29 posted on 02/15/2015 7:05:07 PM PST by GeronL
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To: chajin

Amen.


30 posted on 02/16/2015 7:37:16 AM PST by Gamecock (Joel Osteen is a minister of the Gospel like Captain Crunch is a Naval line officer.)
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Comment #31 Removed by Moderator

Comment #32 Removed by Moderator

To: NYer; flaglady47; mickie; Maine Mariner; pax_et_bonum; Bob Ireland; Q-ManRN; Ricebug; M Kehoe; ...
"(Reuters).....Islamic State released a video on Sunday purporting to show the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians......"

What's with the "purporting" qualification employed after-the-fact?

I've had it with all the word play of those defending the Islamic terrorists.....like Obama and his refusal to let "Islamic terrorism" pass through his lips.

I guess it all started with Bill Clinton's "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is".

I'm just waiting for Obummer to come out with "It depends on what the meaning of 'ISIS' IS-IS".

Leni

33 posted on 02/16/2015 9:16:34 AM PST by MinuteGal
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To: NYer

our _resident is DIRECTLY responsible for the beheadings of these 21 Christians- He made his statement about the crusades, and IMMEDIATELY afterwars, Isis comes out and issues a command to muslims everywhere to kill as many “Coptic CRUSADERS” as possible- and hten goes on to murder these 21 Christians- our _resident may as well have given the same order as isis did, because he DIRECTLY influenced isis to carry out the barbaric acts


34 posted on 02/17/2015 9:38:07 AM PST by Bob434
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To: Liz
Thanks, Liz, for posting the back story. It qualifies as its own thread. By now, you probably heard about State Dept. staffer Marie Harf who was on Hardball last night with Chris Matthews. The Obama solution to ISIS? Harf said, "We cannot win the War on Terror, nor can we win the war on ISIS by killing them. We need to find them jobs. We need to get to the root cause of terrorism, and that is poverty and lack of opportunity in the terrorist community."

It's beyond laughable.

35 posted on 02/17/2015 1:41:58 PM PST by NYer (Without justice - what else is the State but a great band of robbers? - St. Augustine)
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To: NYer

Harf must go! Her pronouncements are increasingly moronic.


36 posted on 02/17/2015 2:48:40 PM PST by miserare ("Reverence for life--life of all kinds--is the first principle of civilization." ~~Schweitzer)
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