Libya Finds Burial Sites of Over 20 Copts Killed by Daesh

Local Editor

The attorney general's office said Friday that the Libyan security forces had reportedly found the bodies of Coptic Christians from Egypt, killed by Daesh militants in Libya in 2015.

The bodies of more than twenty Egyptian Coptic Christians, executed by the Wahhabi Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"] terrorist group in 2015 in Libya were discovered in the city of Sirte, the Egyptian newspaper al-Dustour writes, citing the statement of the Prosecutor General's Office of Libya.

The bodies were found in the same orange jumpsuits the victims were wearing when they were filmed being killed in the coastal city in February 2015, according to a statement provided to Libya's al-Ahrar TV channel.

Libyan security forces reportedly detained the alleged perpetrators of this execution, who then revealed the location of their victims' burial sites. The investigators checked the information and found the bodies of those 21 executed.

Sadiq al-Sour, the head of investigations for the attorney general's office, said last week that the area where the bodies were buried had been identified after a captured commander gave details of its whereabouts.

The Daesh group captured seven Egyptian Christians who worked in the Libyan city of Sirte in 2013. Then in early January 2015 they reported the capture of another 14 Egyptian Copts. In February 2015, terrorists distributed a video in which they showed the brutal execution of their captives.

Coptic Christians had been particularly targeted by Daesh in the course of instability in north-African countries. Since the beginning of December 2016, the terrorists have carried out several attacks on Egypt's religious minority, which claimed lives of dozens of people.

Daesh took control of Sirte in 2015 and lost the city late last year to local forces backed by US air strikes.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team