The Islamic State group released a video Sunday that appeared to show the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya and President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi warned that his country would respond to the deaths as it saw fit.
Speaking on national television hours after the release of the video, el-Sissi said Cairo would choose the "necessary means and timing to avenge the criminal killings."
Egypt's state news agency MENA quoted the spokesman for the Coptic Church as confirming that 21 Egyptian Christians believed to be held by the Islamic State group were dead.