By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, 14 February 2015:
The 21 Egyptian Christians captured in Sirte by supporters of the Islamic State (IS) are reported . . .[restrict]to have been executed.
The Tobruk-based House of Representatives issued a statement yesterday indicating they had been executed by Islamic State supporters in Sirte. The town, Qaddafi’s birthplace and until recently seen as strongly supporting the former regime, is now under firm IS control.
However, it is unclear if the HoR has had access to information not made public or has drawn its own gruesome but nt necessarily accurate conclusions from pictures published an IS online magazine published earlier this week which showed them dressed in orange execution suits and lined up on a beach, presumably near Sirte, as if awaiting execution.
For its part, the Egyptian government says it cannot confirm that the Christains have been killed. There are gruesome photos circulating on social media of a number of decapitated bodies dressed in the same execution suits. However, it is thought that these are some weeks old and not taken in Libya.
Following reports on Thursday that the 21 had been killed, a spokesman for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said that Egypt would investigate the incident. Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab yesterday met with the families of the 21. [/restrict]
