(Laura King)
In a gruesome replay of earlier beheadings of captive Christians, a new Islamic State video distributed on social media on Sunday purportedly shows the point-blank shootings and beheadings of two groups of Ethiopian Christians in Libya.
The footage purports to show the killings taking place in two locations, one described as being in the country’s south and the other showing a sunny Mediterranean beach. The same English-speaking fighter who presided over similar killings depicted on a video released in February declares, “We are back again.”
The 29-minute video, carrying the logo of the radical group’s production arm, Al Furqan Media, echoed the choreography of the February video, which showed the simultaneous beheadings of 21 men, 20 of them Egyptian Coptic Christians, on a Libyan beach.
In response to the February incident, Egypt retaliated with airstrikes and tried without success to marshal regional support for military action against Islamist groups in Libya. Many of the executed Copts were from a few poor villages in southern Egypt.
Impoverished and desperate laborers from nearby countries including Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan continue to seek employment in Libya despite the risks they run by being present in the collapsing North African nation. Christians have been in particular peril.
In the current video, released one week after Eastern-rite Christians celebrated Easter, the black-clad ringleader informs “the nation of the cross” that Christians falling under the Islamic State’s control face death if they do not accept Islam, according to a transcript provided by the U.S.-based SITE group, which monitors jihadist activity. The killings were carried out to “take revenge for Muslim blood,” the chief executioner said.
In the video footage, one group of black-clad captives kneels before a line of masked fighters dressed in military-style camouflage uniforms and armed with automatic weapons, with a few scrubby tree branches visible in the background. Most of the kneeling men bow their heads, but in a still photo, one directs a terrified gaze at the camera.
Elsewhere, more captives are forced to kneel on the beach, their orange jumpsuits – like those seen in previous videos — contrasting with the bright blue water visible behind them. Like the February video, this one lingers on the aftermath of their beheadings, with the waves stained red with blood and the executed men’s severed heads placed atop their corpses.
The exact number of victims could not be determined from the videos, but the two groups together appeared at least as large as the Coptic Christian killings. They were identified in a caption as adherents of “the hostile Ethiopian church.”
The footage’s date and locations could not be independently verified, but depictions of previous killings have been authenticated by Western intelligence services.
Libya has fallen into chaos, with an array of heavily armed militias battling for political power and energy wealth. They are organized loosely into a Tripoli-based faction loyal to the Islamist-leaning former parliament, and an internationally recognized government based in the country’s east.
Neither has gained the upper hand militarily in months of fighting that has caused tens of thousands of Libyans to flee their homes, and international mediation efforts have failed to bear fruit.
Islamic militant groups across North Africa have declared allegiance to the Sunni Muslim militants of the Islamic State, whose home base lies in a swath of Iraq and Syria. In Libya, militants identifying themselves as Islamic State loyalists have carried out previous strikes, including a deadly bombing of a luxury hotel in Tripoli in January.
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Source: LA Times, April 19, 2015
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