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Libya: Christians abducted - for Islamists they are 'legitimate targets'


Patriarch Tawadros II

Patriarch Tawadros II

Twenty Egyptian Copts were taken from their homes in the city of Sirte last week. In the same city, a few days earlier, an Egyptian Copt couple and their teenage daughter were killed. The abductions have triggered reactions in Egyptian society and in the Coptic Church.

A delegation of tribal Egyptian leaders has traveled to Libya to start negotiations with local tribal leaders in an effort to obtain the release of the hostages. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has phoned Coptic Patriarch Tawadros II "to ensure that institutions and Egyptian apparatuses are permanently mobilized for a rapid release of the abducted Copts."

Hussein Haridi, former assistant of the Foreign Ministry told Egyptian media that armed gangs of the Libyan Islamist Ansar al-Sharia network consider Egyptian Copts living in Libya as "legitimate targets".

Source: Fides

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