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Al-Ahed Telegram

Egypt Bombs Terrorist Camps in Libya

Egypt Bombs Terrorist Camps in Libya
folder_openAfrica... access_time6 years ago
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Local Editor

Egyptian forces had struck terrorist training camps in retaliation for an attack on Coptic Christians, President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi said.

Egypt Bombs Terrorist Camps in Libya

State media said six strikes hit the town of Derna in neighboring Libya.

Gunmen earlier attacked a bus carrying worshippers in central Egypt, killing at least 28 people and wounding 25 others.

President Sisi said he would "not hesitate to strike terrorist camps anywhere".

Announcing the strike in a TV speech late on Friday, he promised to "protect our people from the evil".

Countries supporting terrorism should be punished, he said, as he appealed to US President Donald Trump for help.

Military sources told Reuters news agency that the militants targeted in Libya had been involved in the attack on Egyptian Christians earlier in the day.

Although no group immediately said it was behind the attack, the Wahhabi Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" "ISIL"] militants had targeted Copts several times in recent months.

Libya is effectively controlled by a large number of armed militias that have emerged in the chaos since Nato-backed forces overthrew long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011.

But Daesh had also built a presence in Libya during the chaos.

Egypt had launched air strikes against Daesh in Libya before. In 2015, the military bombed several sites, also near Derna, after militants released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.

The Copts killed on Friday had been travelling to the Monastery of St Samuel the Confessor, 135km [85 miles] south of Cairo, from Minya province when their bus came under fire.

It was in a small convoy that was stopped on a desert road near a police station on the border with Beni Suef provinces.

Gunmen wearing military uniforms attacked the convoy with automatic weapons before fleeing in 4X4 vehicles, eyewitnesses said.

Minya Province Bishop Makarios said many of the victims were shot at point blank range, the New York Times reported.

He said that children had been on the bus and were among the dead, adding that a pick-up truck in the convoy carrying workmen at the monastery was also targeted.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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