CAIRO
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday said that his country reserved for itself the right to respond to the execution of 21 nationals in Libya earlier in the day.
"Egypt reserves for itself the right to respond at the appropriate time to avenge the killing of its nationals," al-Sisi said in a televised address to the nation.
A short time earlier, a video emerged to show the execution of 21 Egyptian workers in neighboring Libya by masked men purportedly belonging to the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The video, which appeared only on Sunday, shows a group of masked men pulling 21 men dressed in orange jumpsuits allegedly along the coast of Libyan capital Tripoli.
The masked men then cut off the heads of the 21 men.
"All people, recently you have seen us on the hills of al-Sham (the Levant) and on Dabeq's plains, chopping off the heads of those who have been carrying the cross for a long time," a man says in the video.
Al-Sisi said what he described as "these coward acts" would not sap the resolve of the Egyptian people.
He said in fighting terrorism, Egypt was fighting on behalf of the whole of humanity.
The Egyptian President noted that he had asked his foreign minister to head to the United Nations Security Council in New York to make urgent contacts.
He described the situation in neighboring Libya as a "threat to international peace and security."
Al-Sisi said he also ordered Egypt's National Defense Council to be in continual session to consider appropriate measures in this regard.
Libya has remained a source of concern for neighboring Egypt since the oil-rich North African country descended into chaos following the 2011 ouster and death of strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
Egyptians in particular became targets for attacks in Libya, prompting Egypt's Foreign Ministry to warn citizens against travelling to the fractious neighboring state.
