Egypt bombs Islamic State

Egypt’s military government targeted weapons caches and training camps on Monday in order “to avenge the bloodshed and to seek retribution from the killers,” Egyptian military officials said in a statement. The attacks were in response to a video released Sunday by Islamic State militants showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians who were being held hostage.

In the five-minute video, the victims are dressed in orange jumpsuits with their hands cuffed behind them. Standing behind them are jihadists in black, who push them to the ground and execute them after a masked jihadi says in English, “The sea you have hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden’s body in, we swear to Allah, we will mix it with your blood.”

It’s the first time Egypt has publicly acknowledged using military force in Libya, where Islamic extremist groups have staked out in recent years. Last August, the country denied carrying out airstrikes against jihadists in Libya along with the United Arab Emirates.

The White House condemned the beheadings Monday, saying they further galvanize the international community to oppose the Islamic State, which occupies substantial territory in Iraq and Syria, and seek an end to the conflict in Libya.

“This heinous act once again underscores the urgent need for a political resolution to the conflict in Libya, the continuation of which only benefits terrorist groups, including [the Islamic State],” the Obama administration said. “We call on all Libyans to strongly reject this and all acts of terrorism and to unite in the face of this shared and growing threat.”

Pope Francis also decried the murders of the Coptic Christians, a group that has been extensively persecuted in the last few years.

“The blood of our Christian brothers is a witness that cries out,” he said Monday. “If they are Catholic, Orthodox, Copts, Lutherans, it is not important: They are Christians. The blood is the same: It is the blood which confesses Christ.”