Egypt bombs ISIS targets in Libya after killings

(CNN)The Egyptian military said Monday it has bombed ISIS targets in Libya after the militant group released a video that appeared to show the mass beheadings of Coptic Christians.

"The airstrikes hit their targets accurately and our eagles returned to their bases safely," a statement reported on Egyptian state television said.

The footage of the beheadings of at least a dozen men on a beach, which carries many of the hallmarks of previous ISIS hostage execution videos, has deepened international concerns about ISIS' growing reach into countries beyond its strongholds in Syria and Iraq.

The killings of the Egyptian Christians are believed to have been carried out by a Libyan affiliate of ISIS.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Sunday confirmed in a statement that Egyptian "martyrs" had fallen victim to terrorism and expressed his condolences to the Egyptian people.

Twenty-one Egyptian Christians were kidnapped in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte in two separate incidents in December and January. Officials said all of them were believed to have been killed.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Sunday after the grisly video emerged.

"The secretary offered his condolences on behalf of the American people and strongly condemned the despicable act of terror," the State Department said. "Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Shoukry agreed to keep in close touch as Egyptians deliberated on a response."

The White House also condemned the attack, saying ISIS' "barbarity knows no bounds."

"This wanton killing of innocents is just the most recent of the many vicious acts perpetrated by ISIL-affiliated terrorists against the people of the region," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement, using an alternative acronym for ISIS.

Members of the U.N. Security Council strongly condemned what they called "the heinous and cowardly apparent murder" of the 21 Egyptians.

"This crime once again demonstrates the brutality of ISIL, which is responsible for thousands of crimes and abuses against people from all faiths, ethnicities and nationalities, and without regard to any basic value of humanity," the U.N. statement said.

Coptic Christians are part of the Orthodox Christian tradition, one of three main traditions under the Christian umbrella, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Copts split from other Christians in the fifth century over the definition of the divinity of Jesus Christ.

Credit: CNN.com