Egypt’s president vows vengeance on ISIL for bus attack

World Today

Armored vehicleArmored vehicle patrols as a policeman guards the entrance of the Cathederal road in Minya, Egypt, Friday, May 26, 2017. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi vows vengeance against ISIL. The group says it’s behind an attack on Coptic Christians that killed 29.

CGTN’s Yasser Hakim has more from Cairo.

On Saturday, Rafal fighter jets pounded training camps of the Shoura Mujahideen Council, Al Qaeda affiliated group in the coastal city of Derna in Eastern Libya.

Egypt believes the camp in Libya is a training base for the assailants who killed 28 Egyptians, on their way to a monastery in upper Egypt. “The attacks are vicious and cowardly by mercenaries who receive funding and training abroad to attack Egyptians.

The Egyptian president has vowed revenge. “Any camps that train militants to attack us in Egypt, we will hit it; inside Egypt of course and abroad. I hope this message is clear to everyone,” said President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

And Prime Minister Hisham Ismael warned that the air raid on Libya won’t be the last.

“These operations are attempts to divide the Egyptian people and break our social solidarity. But we remain strong and will hit back at anyone who assumes he can divide us. This air raid is just the beginning. From today Egypt’s national security starts from outside Egypt,” said Ismael.

The Egyptian president plans to continue targeting extremist groups before they reach the country. He is coordinating with the Libyan National Army led by General Khalifa Haftar. Haftar would send in ground troops to finish off the militant camps after being weakened by Egypt’s air raids.

Al-Sisi had pointed out that one thousand terrorists’ cars have been held by police while infiltrating through the borders in the last three years.

It is obvious that al-Sisi’s patience has run out. He has called on U.S. President Donald Trump to join in the fight against terrorism and on the international community to punish those countries that support extremist groups in the region.