White House: IS ‘barbarity knows no bounds’

The United States condemned Sunday the purported killing of 21 Egyptians by militants in Libya affiliated with the Islamic State group as “despicable” and “cowardly.”

White House press secretary Josh Earnest added in a statement that the group’s barbarity “knows no bounds.”

Earnest said the killings underscore the need for a political resolution to the conflict in Libya. He said the situation in Libya only benefits terrorist groups, and he called on the Libyan people to unite in opposition to terrorism.

Also Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry called Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri. He offered his condolences on behalf of the American people and strongly condemned the killings. Kerry and the foreign minister agreed to keep in close touch as Egyptians deliberated on a response, according to a release from the State Department.

A video purporting to show the mass beheading of Coptic Christian hostages was released Sunday by IS.

The Associated Press could not independently verify the video. But the Egyptian government and the Coptic Church, which is based in Egypt, have said the video is authentic.

The militants had been holding 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians hostage for weeks, all laborers rounded up from the city of Sirte in December and January. It was not clear from the video whether all 21 hostages were killed. It was one of the first such beheading videos from an Islamic State group affiliate to come from outside the group’s core territory in Syria and Iraq.

The video’s makers identified themselves as the Tripoli Province of the Islamic State group. A still photo, apparently taken from the video, was published last week in the Islamic State group’s Dabiq online magazine — indicating a direct connection between the Libyan militants and the main group.

The video depicts several men in orange jumpsuits being led along a beach, each accompanied by a masked militant. The men are made to kneel and one militant, dressed differently that the others, addresses the camera in North American-accented English.

“All crusaders: safety for you will be only wishes, especially if you are fighting us all together. Therefore we will fight you all together,” he said. “The sea you have hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden’s body in, we swear to Allah we will mix it with your blood.”

The men are then laid face-down and simultaneously beheaded.

The militant speaker then pointed northward across the red-stained waves and said, “We will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission.”

The Egyptian government declared a seven-day mourning period and President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi addressed the nation late Sunday night, pledging resilience in the fight against terrorism.