'Egyptian air strikes on terrorist strongholds in Libya legitimate
self-defence,' Shoukry tells Tillerson
Ahram Online , Saturday 27 May 2017
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/269651/Egypt/Politics-/Egyptian-air-strikes-on-terrorist-strongholds-in-L.aspx

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has told his US counterpart Rex
Tillerson that Egyptian air strikes on “terrorist strongholds” in eastern
Libya came in the framework of “legitimate self-defence.”

In an official statement, foreign ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said
Shoukry stressed during a phone call with Tillerson that intelligence and
evidence regarding the training of terrorist elements, that he said were
behind a deadly attack on Copts in Upper Egypt on Friday, were available.

Egypt’s armed forces carried out intensive air strikes on Friday night and
on Saturday, targeting militants in Libya they said were responsible for
planning and executing a Friday deadly attack which killed 29 Egyptian
Christians who had been travelling to a monastery in the governorate of
Minya in Upper Egypt.

On Saturday the Islamist militant group Daesh claimed responsibility for the
deadly attack.

The militant group has launched several recent deadly attacks on Coptic
Christians, including twin bombings in churches in April which killed dozens
of worshippers.

According to the Egyptian army, the airstrikes resulted in the complete
destruction of the targets, which included areas where terrorist elements
were gathering and training.

Tillerson expressed his country’s support for Egyptian efforts in combating
terrorism, the statement read, adding that the US is ready to cooperate with
Egypt in the anti-terrorism field, in terms of intelligence and military
efforts.

The US secretary of state’s call to the Egyptian foreign minister comes a
few hours after President Donald Trump responded to a direct address by
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Friday. Trump affirmed in an
official statement that the US stood with Egypt against "the common enemy"
of terrorism.

In a Friday evening speech following the Minya attack, El-Sisi said that he
trusts the US president’s ability to wage war on terrorism as his first
priority.

The Egyptian president also said that Egypt will not hesitate in striking
any camps that harbour or train terrorist elements, whether inside the
country or abroad.