Cairo: Libyan authorities say the bodies of 21 Egyptian workers, beheaded by Daesh more than two years ago, have been found in the group’s former holdout of Sirte.
The office of the Libyan chief prosecutor added late on Friday that a grave containing the remains of the 21 Coptic Christians had been found after confessions from Daesh militants recently arrested in Sirte.
In February 2015, Daesh released footage showing its militants executing the 21 in a coastal Libyan area, which prompted Egypt to mount airstrikes against suspected extremist positions in Libya.
Last week, Libyan Prosecutor-General Al Sadiq Al Sour said authorities had detained a Daesh extremist thought to be involved in the beheadings, and that the killings had been carried out behind a hotel in Sirte.
There was no immediate official comment in Egypt.
However, a lawyer for the victims’ families said yesterday he expected the repatriation of the slain Egyptians’ remains for burial at home.
The 21 victims were natives of the Upper Egyptian province of Minya, around 240 kilometres south of Cairo.
