Cairo: The Egyptian Army has launched airstrikes on terror groups in Libya in response to the attack that killed 29 Coptic Christians with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi asserting that his country will not hesitate in striking any camps that harbour or train terrorists.
Announcing the retaliatory attack, the Egyptian Army spokesperson Tamer el-Refae posted a clip, which also included footages of army aircraft taking off, on his official Facebook and Twitter pages on Friday. Six air strikes against “terror camps in Libya” were reported by state television. The jihadist training camps were hit in the eastern Libyan city of Derna.
The airstrikes came after the Army gathered information that confirms the terrorists’ participation in the attack. Masked gunmen attacked a bus and other vehicles taking a group of Coptic Christians to Anba Samuel monastery in the Minya Governorate, 250km south of Cairo. The death toll in the attack rose to 29 on Saturday with the Egyptian Cabinet saying that 13 victims of Friday’s assault remain hospitalised here.
“Egypt will not hesitate in striking any camps that harbour or train terrorist elements whether inside Egypt or outside Egypt,” Sisi said in a televised address. He said the attack will not pass easily. Sisi also directly addressed US President Donald Trump, saying, “Your Excellency, I trust your ability to wage war on terrorism as your first priority, with the cooperation of the whole international community, that should unite against terrorism.” He said that “all countries that support terrorism, should be punished, without any courtesy or conciliation.”
Sisi’s remarks came as Trump denounced the attack as “merciless slaughter”. Trump said that the US “makes clear to its friends, allies, and partners that the treasured and historic Christian communities of the Middle East must be defended and protected.” “The bloodletting of Christians must end, and all who aid their killers must be punished,” he said in a statement.
Sisi, in his address, asserted that “if Egypt falls, the whole world will be in chaos.” “We are waging a war on behalf of the world,” he said.
Sisi said that recent attacks were aimed at making people believe that Christians are not secure in Egypt, and that the government is not protecting them. No group has claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack.
The attack comes as the country is still under a three- month state of emergency period following twin attacks on Coptic churches on Palm Sunday last month that killed dozens of people, in attacks claimed by ISIS. There have been a number of attacks on Coptic Christians in the country in recent months claimed by Islamic State militants.
The Minya attack is the latest in a series of deadly attacks on Egypt’s Christians, following the Palm Sunday Suicide Bombings.
On April 9, two suicide bombers hit Saint George’s Cathedral in Tanta and St Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria, killing and injuring dozens in the deadliest attack against civilians in the country’s recent history. A total of 29 people died in the Tanta explosion and 18 in Alexandria.
In December last year, an attack on a Coptic church in Cairo killed 25 people. Coptic Christians, which make up about 10 per cent of Egypt’s 91 million population, have faced persecution in Egypt, which has spiked since the toppling of Hosni Mubarak’s regime in 2011. (PTI)
