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Egypt has bombed ISIS targets in Libya, hours after the group published video showing the apparent killings of 21 Egyptian Christians.
State TV said the dawn strikes had targeted camps, training sites and weapons storage areas.
Libyan officials said Egypt had hit targets in the militant-held city of Derna in co-ordination with Libya.
A video emerged on February 15 showing militants forcing a group of men to the ground and decapitating them.
Islamic State militants claim to have carried out several attacks in Libya, which is in effect without a government.
The kidnapped Egyptian workers, all Coptic Christians, were seized in December and January from the coastal town of Sirte in eastern Libya, under the control of Islamist groups.
The video of the beheadings was posted online by Libyan jihadists who pledge loyalty to ISIS. The victims were all wearing orange overalls as in previous videos of ISIS executions. It was one of the first such videos to come from an ISIS group outside its core territory in Syria and Iraq.
Egypt did not give the locations of the strikes, but reports said that Egyptian jets had taken part in co-ordinated air strikes on Derna.
Libyan Air force commander Saqer al-Joroushi told Reuters that Libyan planes had bombed targets in Sirte and Bin Jawad.
Earlier, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt had the “right to respond” against ISIS, whom he described as “inhuman criminal killers”.
“Egypt and the whole world are in a fierce battle with extremist groups carrying extremist ideology and sharing the same goals.”
Egypt has declared seven days of national mourning.
Leading international condemnation, the United States called the killings “despicable” and “cowardly”.
Libya is home to a large community of both Muslim and Coptic Egyptians, with most working in the construction sector.
In the first kidnapping in Sirte, in late December, a group of Coptic Christians was abducted at a fake checkpoint while trying to leave the city.
Days later, militants raided a residential compound in Sirte and separated Christians from Muslims before handcuffing their captives and taking them away.
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At least one person has been killed and more than 20 injured in clashes outside Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral following the funerals of four Coptic Christians killed in religious violence.
Coptic mourners leaving Cairo’s main cathedral are said to have clashed with local residents.
Police fired tear gas to break up the violence.
The head of Egypt’s national ambulance service, Mohammed Sultan, said one person had died of birdshot wounds.
Mourners inside the church had earlier chanted slogans against Egypt’s Islamist President, Mohamed Morsi.
Witnesses told local TV stations that the violence started when a mob attacked mourners as they exited the cathedral, pelting them with rocks and petrol bombs.
At least one person has been killed and more than 20 injured in clashes outside Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral following the funerals of four Coptic Christians killed in religious violence
The Christians responded by throwing rocks back, the witnesses said, until police arrived and attempted to quell the unrest.
Egypt’s state news agency said the streets around St Mark’s Cathedral had seen “on-and-off” clashes between Christians and “unidentified persons”.
It was reported that a fire had started in a building adjacent to the Cathedral, but the blaze had since been extinguished.
Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Christian church, appealed for calm and the preservation of national unity.
Speaking on Sunday evening, he said he was in contact with government officials.
Egypt’s minority of Coptic Christians, who make up about 10% of the population, have accused the government of failing to protect them, following the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Clashes between Muslims and Coptic Christians have been seen numerous times since then, but this weekend’s violence was the worst seen in several months.
Police said five deaths – four Copts and one Muslim – occurred on Saturday in Khosous, about 10 miles north of Cairo, after inflammatory symbols were drawn on an Islamic institute, provoking an argument.
The dispute escalated into a gun battle between Christian and Muslim residents, while Christian-owned shops were also attacked.
Violence there flared again on Sunday, with police reporting more sectarian fighting on the streets and clashes between police and youths.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s top judicial body has urged the chief prosecutor appointed by Mohamed Morsi to step down.
Talaat Abdullah, who was named to the post by President Mohamed Morsi in December, has provoked anger by demanding the arrest of several high-profile political activists.
In a statement on Sunday, Egypt’s Supreme Judiciary Council urged Talaat Abdullah to return to his previous job as a judge.
Last week a court annulled the presidential decree that appointed him, but Talaat Abdullah continued to carry out his duties, including issuing arrest warrants for activists accused of insulting President Mohamed Morsi and Islam.
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Pope Tawadros II, the new leader of Egypt’s Coptic Christian church, has been formally enthroned in Cairo.
Pope Tawadros II was confirmed as the new leader of Egypt’s Christian minority at a ceremony at St Mark’s cathedral in the Egyptian capital.
The 60-year-old succeeds Pope Shenouda III, who died in March after four decades on the patriarchal throne.
The enthronement comes at an uncertain time for Egypt’s Christians, following the fall of Hosni Mubarak last year.
Pope Tawadros II, the new leader of Egypt’s Coptic Christian church, has been formally enthroned in Cairo
Sectarian attacks against Coptic Christians and churches in Egypt have increased since his fall, and many Christians are concerned about the rise of Islamist political forces.
Christians make up 5-10% of Egypt’s majority Sunni Muslim population and form the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.
Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Mursi did not attend Sunday’s enthronement, though Prime Minister Hisham Qandil was there.
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Bishop Tawadros has been chosen as the new pope of Egypt’s Coptic Christians, becoming leader of the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.
His name was selected from a glass bowl by a blindfolded boy at a ceremony in Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral. Three candidates had been shortlisted.
Bishop Tawadros, 60, succeeds Pope Shenouda III, who died in March aged 88.
He succeeds as attacks on Copts are on the increase, and many say they fear the country’s new Islamist leaders.
The other two candidates were Bishop Raphael and Father Raphael Ava Mina. They were chosen in a ballot by a council of some 2,400 Church and community officials in October.
Bishop Tawadros’ name was selected from a glass bowl by a blindfolded boy at a ceremony in Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral
Their names were written on pieces of paper and put in crystal balls sealed with wax on the church altar.
A blindfolded boy – one of 12 shortlisted children – then drew out the name of Bishop Tawadros, who until now was an aide to the acting leader, Bishop Pachomius.
Bishop Pachomius then took the ballot from the boy’s hand and showed it to all those gathered in the cathedral.
Strict measures were in place to make sure there was no foul play during the televised ceremony: the three pieces of paper with candidates’ names were all the same size and tied the same way.
Copts say this process ensures the selection is in God’s hands.
Bishop Tawadros has been chosen as the new pope of Egypt’s Coptic Christians
Bishop Tawadros will be enthroned in a ceremony on 18 November.
The new pope has studied in Britain, and has also run a medicine factory.
He is a man of broad experience and with managerial skills and will need all those talents to lead the Copts as they face an uncertain future in a country now debating the role of Islam following last year’s revolution.
No-one in Egypt expects the new pope to introduce radical changes to the deeply conservative church.
Pope Shenouda died in March. Under his leadership, the Coptic Church expanded significantly, including outside its traditional Egyptian base.
He was a passionate advocate of unity among the Christian churches, and also clashed with then President Anwar Sadat, particularly over their conflicting views on the future of Egypt’s relationship with Israel.
Coptic Christians have long complained of discrimination by the Egyptian state and the country’s Muslim majority.
But when President Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year and succeeded by the Muslim Brotherhood, their fears grew.
In October 2011, 25 people died in clashes with the security forces after a protest march in Cairo over the burning of a church.
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Egypt’s Coptic Christians will learn the name of their new pope on Sunday, when a blindfolded child selects the name of one of three candidates.
Two bishops and a monk are on the shortlist to become the 118th leader of the largest Christian minority in the Middle East, about 8 million strong.
The individual chosen will succeed Pope Shenouda III, who died in March.
Attacks on Copts are on the increase, and many Copts say they are afraid of the governing Muslim Brotherhood party.
Pope Shenouda III, who led the church for four decades, had urged officials to do more to address Copts’ concerns.
The shortlisted candidates are Bishop Raphael, Bishop Tawadros and Father Raphael Ava Mina. They were chosen in a ballot by a council of some 2,400 Church and community officials in October.
Their names will be written on pieces of paper and placed in a box on the altar of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo.
Egypt’s Coptic Christians will learn the name of their new pope on Sunday, when a blindfolded child selects the name of one of three candidates
A blindfolded boy will then be asked to draw out one of the names. Copts say this process ensures the selection is in God’s hands.
The chosen man will be enthroned in a ceremony on 18 November.
No-one in Egypt expects the new pope to introduce any radical changes to the deeply conservative church.
Under Pope Shenouda, the Coptic Church expanded significantly, including outside its traditional Egyptian base.
He was a passionate advocate of unity among the Christian churches, and also clashed with then President Anwar Sadat, particularly over their conflicting views on the future of Egypt’s relationship with Israel.
Coptic Christians have long complained of discrimination by the Egyptian state and the country’s Muslim majority.
But when President Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year and succeeded by the Muslim Brotherhood, their fears grew.
In October 2011, 25 people died in clashes with the security forces after a protest march in Cairo over the burning of a church.
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