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The dawn attack comes a day after video emerged purporting to show the beheading of 21 Egyptians by black-clad militants.
07:32, UK, Monday 16 February 2015
Egypt's military says it has bombed Islamic State (IS) targets in Libya, a day after the group released a video purporting to show the beheading of 21 Egyptians.
The attack focused on camps, training sites and weapons storage areas across Egypt's border with Libya.
A spokesman for the Armed Forces General Command said it was "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," the statement added.
State television broadcast footage of fighter jets it said were taking off to conduct the airstrikes.
The strikes come after video emerged showing 21 handcuffed hostages dressed in orange jumpsuits being murdered by militants identified as being from the Tripoli Province of IS.
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron described the killings as "a cruel and barbaric act", adding: "We will not waver in our fight against terrorists and extremism."
White House spokesman Josh Earnest described the killings as a "despicable and cowardly murder".
In the aftermath, Egypt's president, Abdel Fattah al Sisi, threatened to carry out a "suitable" punishment.
As well as the Egyptian airstrikes, Libya's air force also said it had launched airstrikes in the eastern city of Darna, which was taken over by an IS affiliate last year.
The announcement on the Facebook page of the Air Force Chief of Staff did not give any more details.
In January, the IS branch in Libya claimed it had abducted 21 Egyptian Christians.
The country's foreign ministry confirmed at the time that 20 Egyptians had been kidnapped in two separate incidents in Libya.
Relatives of those kidnapped have gathered in Cairo in recent days to call for the hostages to be released.
Egypt's Copts are the largest Christian community in the Middle East and are estimated to account for around 10% of the country's population.
Thousands of Egyptians have headed to Libya to work since the Egyptian uprising in 2011, despite government advice that they should stay away from the country.
The killings raise the possibility that the militants have established a direct affiliate less than 500 miles (800km) from the southern tip of Italy.
One of the fighters in the video makes a direct reference to this, saying the group now plans to "conquer Rome".
IS already controls around a third of Iraq and Syria in a self-declared caliphate.
Egypt strikes IS group in Libya after video of mass killing
By HAMZA HENDAWI and MAGGIE MICHAEL
Feb. 16, 2015 10:02 AM EST
A man is comforted by others as he mourns over Egyptian Coptic Christians who were captured in Libya and killed by militants affiliated with the Islamic State group, outside of the Virgin Mary church in the village of el-Aour, near Minya, 220 kilometers (135 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Feb. 16, 2015. Egyptian warplanes struck Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday in swift retribution for the extremists' beheading of a group of Egyptian Christian hostages on a beach, shown in a grisly online video released hours earlier. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian warplanes struck Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday in swift retribution for the extremists' beheading of a group of Egyptian Christian hostages on a beach, shown in a grisly online video released hours earlier.
At the same time, Egypt called for international intervention in Libya against the Islamic State group. Loyalists of the Syria and Iraq-based group have risen to dominate several cities in the chaos-riven North African nation.
Italy, just across the Mediterranean Sea, says it is prepared to lead international action in Libya.
After the release of the beheading video Sunday night, the tiny Christian-majority home village of more than half of the 21 Egyptians believed killed by the extremists was gutted by grief. Inside the village church, relatives wept and shouted the names of the dead in shock.
"What will be a relief to me is to take a hold of his murderer, tear him apart, eat up his flesh and liver," said Bushra Fawzi in el-Aour village, as he wept over the loss of his 22-year-old son Shenouda. "I want his body back. If they dumped it in the sea, I want it back. If they set fire to it, I want its dust."
The 21 — mainly young men from impoverished families — had travelled to Libya for work and were kidnapped in two groups in December and January from the coastal city of Sirte. In the video, the group is marched onto what is purported to be a Libyan beach before masked militants with knives carve off the head of each. The killing of at least a dozen of them is clearly visible, though it was not clear from the video whether all 21 hostages were killed.
Two rounds of Egyptian airstrikes, several hours apart on Monday, struck targets in the eastern Libyan city of Darna, according to Egyptian and Libyan security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk the press.
Egypt's military announced the strikes on state radio, marking the first time Cairo has publicly acknowledged military action in Libya. It said the strikes hit weapons caches and training camps "to avenge the bloodshed and to seek retribution from the killers."
"Let those far and near know that Egyptians have a shield to protect and safeguard the security of the country and a sword that cuts off terrorism," it said.
Libya's air force commander, Saqr al-Joroushi, told Egyptian state TV that the airstrikes were coordinated with the Libyan side. Libya's air force said it also carried out strikes in Darna.
Libya has become home of the strongest presence of the Islamic State group outside its core territory in Syria and Iraq.
With almost no state control in much of Libya, extremists loyal to the Islamic State have seized control Darna and the central city of Sirte and have built up a powerful presence in the capital Tripoli and the second-largest city Benghazi. Libyan Interior Minister Omar al-Sinki has said some 400 militants from Yemen and Tunisia are believed to make up the group in Libya, along with Libyan militias that have vowed allegiance.
Egypt appears now to be launching a push for international military intervention in Libya to curb the group.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi spoke with France's president and Italy's prime minister Monday about the Libya situation. He sent his foreign minister, Sameh Shukri, to New York to consult with U.N. officials and Security Council members ahead of a conference on terrorism opening Wednesday in Washington.
"What is happening in Libya is a threat to international peace and security," said el-Sissi.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry said the international community must adopt "immediate and effective" moves against terror groups in Libya. "Leaving things in Libya as they are without decisive intervention to suppress these terror groups constitutes a clear danger to international peace and security," it said.
It also called on the U.S.-led coalition staging airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria to offer Egypt political and material support to counter the group in Libya.
The idea of intervention has gained traction with Italy, whose southern tip is less than 500 miles (800 kilometers) from the Libyan coast. One of the militants in the video boasted the group plans to "conquer Rome."
Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti said in an interview published Sunday in the Il Messaggero daily that her country was ready to lead a coalition of countries — European and North African — to stop the militants' advance.
"If in Afghanistan we sent 5,000 men, in a country like Libya which is much closer to home, and where the risk of deterioration is much more worrisome for Italy, our mission and commitment could be significant, even numerically," she was quoted as saying.
Italy, she said, would gladly take a lead role "for geographic, economic and historic reasons," but she stressed that so far such an intervention was only theoretical. Asked if ground troops were a possibility, she said it would depend on the scenario.
Egypt is already battling an Islamist insurgency in the strategic Sinai Peninsula, where militants have recently declared their allegiance to the Islamic State and rely heavily on arms smuggled from Libya.
Libya, on Egypt's western border, has slid into chaos since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Islamist-allied militias seized the capital Tripoli last year, and the internationally recognized government has been confined to the country's far east since, while Islamist politicians set up a rival government in Tripoli.
Last year, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates carried out airstrikes against Islamist-allied forces last year, according to U.S. officials.
The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, called the new mass killing an "ugly crime" and said it was "devoting all its resources to support the efforts of Egypt to eradicate terrorism and the violence directed against its citizens."
He added that the killing highlights the need to help the Libyan government "extend its sovereign authority over all of Libya's territory."
The oil-rich Emirates, along with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, has given billions of dollars in aid to Egypt since el-Sissi, who was then military chief, overthrew Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013 amid massive protests against his yearlong rule.
___
Michael reported from el-Aour, Egypt. Associated Press writers Nicole Winfield in Rome, Maamoun Youssef in Cairo and Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.
Egypt strikes back at Islamic State militants after beheading video, killing dozens
Date February 16, 2015 - 10:50PM
Omar Fahmy and Yara Bayoumy
An image from Egypt's state-run television station Al-Masriya reportedly shows an F-16 fighter jet preparing to take off. Photo: Al-Masriya
CAIRO: Egypt said it bombed Islamic State targets inside Libya, a day after the group released a video appearing to show the beheading of 21 Egyptians there.
It was the first time Egypt confirmed launching air strikes against the group in Libya, suggesting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is ready to escalate his battle against militants seeking to topple his government.
Libya said it had joined and co-ordinated with Egypt on the strikes.
Men purported to be Egyptian Christians held captive by the Islamic State are marched by armed men in this still image from the video. Photo: Reuters
Egypt's military said the dawn strike hit Islamic State camps, training sites and weapons storage areas.
"The strike achieved its targets accurately" and the pilots returned to base safely, the Egyptian military said, as state television ran brief footage of a fighter plane taking off in darkness.
A Libyan air force commander said 40 to 50 militants were killed in Monday's airstrikes.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo. Photo: Supplied
"There are casualties among the individuals, ammunition and the communication centres belonging to them," Saqer al-Joroushi said on Egyptian state television. "The number of deaths are not less than 40 or 50 for sure."
The 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians, who had gone to Libya in search of jobs, were marched to a beach, forced to kneel and then beheaded, according to the video, broadcast via a website that supports Islamic State.
In a phone call to Al Arabiya television, Brigadier Saqer al-Joroushi, the commander of the air force loyal to Libya's official government, said more air strikes would be carried out in co-ordination with Egypt.
Egypt, the most populous Arab state, has not taken part directly in the US-led air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria, focusing instead on the increasingly complex insurgency within its own borders.
The United Arab Emirates, a close ally of President Sisi, said it "would put all its capabilities to support ... Egypt's efforts to eradicate terrorism and the violence against its citizens".
Security officials say militants based in Libya have established ties with Sinai Province, a group operating from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
Sinai Province has killed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police since the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.
Thousands of Egyptians desperate for work have travelled to Libya since an uprising at home in 2011, despite the government's advice not to go to a state sliding into chaos.
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.
