AFRICA/LIBYA - Copts kidnapped: jihadist websites spread photos

Tuesday, 13 January 2015

Sirte (Agenzia Fides) – On Monday, January 12 some jihadist websites published photos of 21 Coptic Egyptians abducted in recent weeks in Sirte in two group seizures, attributing the kidnappings to the Islamic State (IS). Those kidnapped are defined "Christian crusaders arrested by soldiers of the Islamic State in several regions of the province of Tripoli", without making demands for their release. Family members of the hostages and the representatives of the Coptic community of Salamut - city of the governorate of Minya where most of the hostages come from - have confirmed the authenticity of the photos.
In past days, the seizure of the Copts had been attributed by local sources to gunmen affiliated to the radical Islamist network Ansar Al-Sharia. According to some Egyptian analysts, the Copts in Libya for work reasons are considered "legitimate targets" by jihadist groups who hit them with violence and are kidnapped also for retaliation against the support that Egypt wants to ensure the government which has taken office in Tobruk. At the same time, opposing information was expressed by the tribal leader Mouftah Marzouq, head of the "Council of Elders" in Sirte, according to whom the Egyptians had been seized by traffickers who control illegal immigration. "The fact is - refers to Agenzia Fides Anba Antonios Aziz Mina, Coptic Catholic Bishop of Guizeh - that terrible things are happening in Libya: armed factions are multiplying in a Country which is already torn apart, where it is increasingly clear that the interventions made in the recent past by external geopolitical protagonists have proven to be completely useless". (GV) (Agenzia Fides 13/01/2015)


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