IS beheads 21 Egyptian Christians

Islamic State released a video yesterday purporting to show the beheading of a group of Egyptian Christians kidnapped in Libya, violence likely to deepen Cairo’s concerns over security threats from militants thriving in the neighbouring country’s chaos.

Egypt’s state news agency Mena quoted the spokesman for the Coptic Church as confirming that 21 Egyptian Christians believed to be held by Islamic State were dead.

In the video, militants in black marched the captives, dressed in orange jump- suits, to a beach the group said was near Tripoli. They were forced down onto their knees, then beheaded.