Egypt on Friday carried out air strikes in Libya directed at camps believed to be belonging to the militants responsible for the deadly attack on Coptic Christians earlier in the day. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (pictured above) announced the news about the strikes in a TV address and said sponsored terrorism would be punished.
“The terrorist incident that took place today will not pass unnoticed,” Sisi said. “We are currently targeting the camps where the terrorists are trained.” Unidentified sources in the Egyptian Army told Reuters that the country had carried out six strikes in Derna, eastern Libya. The Egyptians were joined by east Libyan forces for the operation.
On Friday, masked attackers shot dead 29 people and wounded 26 others in Egypt. The victims were on their way to a Coptic Christian monastery when the shootings took place. While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack targeting the country’s religious minority, the Islamic State had admitted to having perpetrated blasts against the community in the past.
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