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Egypt's president says his air force struck bases in Libya where militants who waged a deadly attack against Christians have been trained, but gave no details.

Senior officials said that the bases are ineastern Libya. They said the warplanes on Friday targeted the headquarters of the Shura Council in the city of Darna, where local militias are known to be linked to al-Qaeda.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi says Egypt will strike at any bases that train militants who wage attacks in Egypt, wherever they may be. He also directly appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump to take the lead in the fight against global terror.

In a televised address just hours after at least 28 Coptic Christians, including two children, were killed by militants south of Cairo, el-Sissi said "I direct my appeal to President Trump: I trust you, your word and your ability to make fighting global terror your primary task."

He also repeated calls that countries thatfinance, train or arm extremists be punished.

In the attack Friday south of Cairo, masked gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Coptic Christians. The gunmen also wounded22, officials said.

The attack happened while the bus was travelling to the St. Samuel Monastery in Minyaprovince, about 220 kilometressouth of the Egyptian capital, health officials told the MENAnews agency.

Health officials, citing eyewitnesses, said there were between eight and 10 attackers dressed in military uniforms and wearing masks.The victims were travelling from the nearby province of Bani Suief to visit the monastery, which isreachable only by a short, unpaved route that veers off the main highway.

Arab TV stations showed images of a damaged bus along a roadside, many of its windows shattered. Ambulances were parked around it as bodies lay on the ground, covered with black plastic sheets.

Local officials said the dead included two little girls, ages twoand four.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack,which came on the eve of the holy Muslim month ofRamadan, though it had all the hallmarks of Egypt's affiliate of ISIS.

Security forces launched a hunt for the attackers, setting up dozens of checkpoints and patrols on the desert road.

Following the attack south of Cairo by masked gunmen on a bus carrying Coptic Christians, their relatives grieve at Abu Garnous Cathedral in Minya. (Amr Nabil/Associated Press)

Presidentel-Sissi called for a meeting with top aides to discuss the attack. The government is expected to tighten security around churches, monasteries, schools and annual pilgrimages to remote Christian sites across the country. Earlier this week it blocked access to nearly two dozen websites it said were sympathetic to militants or spreading their ideology.

The grand imam of al-Azhar, Egypt's 1,000-year-old centre of Islamic learning, said the attack was intended to destabilize the country.

"I call on Egyptians to unite in the face of this brutal terrorism," Ahmed al-Tayeb said from Germany, where he was on a visit.

Egyptian authorities have been fighting ISIS-linked militants who have waged an insurgency, mainly focused in the volatile north of the Sinai Peninsula, though attacks have taken place also on the mainland. Egypt's Coptic Christians have emerged as a top target of ISIS.

Coptic Christians were the target of twin bombings that tore through two Egyptian churches last month killing dozens and wounding some 100 others as worshippers were marking Palm Sunday. ISISclaimed responsibility for both attacks.

Another bombing at the country's main Coptic cathedral in Cairo left 25 people dead in December.

A nun cries as she stands at the scene inside Cairo's Coptic cathedral, following a bombing, on Dec. 11. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

Copts, the Middle East's largest Christian community, have repeatedly complained of suffering discrimination, as well as outright attacks, at hands of Egypt's majority Muslim population.

Late last month, Pope Francis visited Egypt, in part to show his support for Christians of this Muslim-majority Arab nation who have been increasingly targeted by Islamic militants.

Following the Pope's visit, ISIS vowed to escalate the attacks against Christians, urging Muslims to steer clear of Christian gatherings and Western embassies, saying they are targets for the group's followers.

The surge in violence has added to the formidable challenges facing el-Sissi's government as it struggles to contain the insurgency while pushing ahead with an ambitious and politically sensitive reform program to revive the country's ailing economy. The program has sent the cost of food and services soaring.

"The growing number of these terror attacks is not at all reassuring," Father Rafic Greiche, spokespersonfor the Egyptian Catholic Church, told a local TV station.

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gunmen kill 28 Coptic Christians in Egypt - CBC.ca

After the Manchester bombing, can President Trump keep saying America has no role to play in Libya?

Libya keeps popping up in the investigation into the attack by British suicide bomber Salman Abedi, who killed at least 22 people and injured 59 at an Ariana Grande concert Monday night. Abedi spent the last three weeks of his life in Libya, his fathers birthplace, before returning to his native Manchester.

As Britains security forces dig deeper into Abedis ISIS connections, making additional arrests in England and Libya, one thing is clear: The country we helped rid of dictator Moammar Khadafy is a mess which is just how the Islamist terrorists like it.

Even before Manchester, there was concern, first of all, that ISIS were present and growing in Libya, and secondly that Libya didnt have the strong, stable government that we needed in order to engage on counter-terrorism, a senior UN Security Council diplomat told me.

And yes, the diplomat added, Were all waiting to hear in more details what the Trump administration plans to do about it.

As of now, it seems, not much beyond a continuation of the Obama administrations policy, which blatantly violated Colin Powells first rule of regime change: You break a country, you own it.

We helped break Libya after France and Britain convinced President Barack Obama in 2011 to help overthrow its tyrant. It was in Libya that Obama officials first boasted about leading from behind. After the overthrow, they let the Europeans and the United Nations take the lead in rebuilding the country.

And its teetered on the edge of failed-state territory ever since.

Fearing an influx of refugees from the post-Khadafy chaos, the Europeans, with the help of UN officials, hastily cobbled together a legitimate government in Libya. They bet on that governments weak and pliant leader, Fayez Sarraj, to stabilize the country and stem the flood of refugees.

That effort at national unity failed miserably.

Three parallel governments competed for leadership. Armed militias vied for territory, influence and oil revenue. Among the chaos, poverty and misery, ISIS moved in to carve out its own territory. If its bases in Syria and Iraq fall, Libya will serve as a backup hub for the ever-roaming ISIS caliphate.

Meanwhile, a former Libyan army bigwig, Khalifa Haftar (whod spent 20 years of his life in Virginia, next door to CIA headquarters, as a refugee fleeing Khadafy), emerged as leader of Libyas strongest militia.

Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt are backing Haftar, believing hes best positioned to unite the army and the country. Haftar is a fiercely secular nationalist who disdains the countrys status as a plaything for foreign powers. He wants the country in one piece again, so he often talks about defeating the various Islamist militias, including those backed by the West. To his Russian backing, he wants to add American support, and has been lobbying DC for it.

Obama, the Europeans and the United Nations condemned Haftar as a spoiler, consistently betting all their chips on Sarrajs government of national accord. They wanted a symbol of unity, but it turned into a symbol of the US failed policy of leading from behind, an Arab diplomat told me, adding that Haftar is emerging now as the least-bad of Libyas options, and that he must figure highly in Libyas future leadership.

Frances new president may soon move in that direction, too. Libya needs to build a national army under civilian control with the participation of all the forces that fight terrorism across the country, including those of General Haftar, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said last week. He didnt even mention Sarraj.

What about the United States? Trump said last month he doesnt see a role in Libya, adding America has right now enough roles. That sounds like a less-eloquent version of Obamas attempt to let others do the leading thing for us.

The horror in Manchester may concentrate the mind.

Trumps vow to obliterate ISIS will prove hollow if we chase the terrorists out of Syria and Iraq just so they can plot their evil deeds from Libya.

Obama lived in an imaginary world, where America pretends it can ignore the messes left behind. Its time to break out of that mindset while theres still a chance to turn Libya around. First Trump must realize that the rear is no place for a leader.

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Manchester bombing's Libya roots: another mess Obama left for Trump - New York Post

Rohit Kachroo Security Editor

The Scout Association, the Eurovision Song Contest and the English Premier League should be promoted in Libya to help fight terrorism, a UK government report leaked to ITV News concluded.

The study was commissioned by the Ministry of Defence in 2013 - before the rise of Isis - to try to find ways to confront instability in Libya. Its findings were circulated around Whitehall. It concluded that the countrys proximity to Europe and porous borders might present a risk to Britains national security.

Although researchers found that the UK is liked by young Libyans, it warned that British officials should tread carefully when writing new policy due to local suspicions about western interventions in the country.

It said that Britain cannot be seen to lead a programme, but should use soft power by promoting well-respected British organisations.

The Scout Movement is a well-established organisation in Libya the reports authors said. It benefited from the fact that it was apolitical throughout the rein of Gaddafi - but joined the front line during the revolution

If the UK actively supported the Libyan Scouting Movement, and worked to model the National Service programme on the same lines, it would achieve disproportionate benefit to the UK for relatively little investment.

The report called the English Premier League a significant soft power asset and suggested that its security expertise could be used to help promote stability.

The report's authors said that Libya could promote stability by applying to enter the Eurovision Song Contest.

Like many nations on Europes periphery, Libya is eligible to enter A campaign to support a Libyan entry which drew on Libyan culture could help unite the nation in a less gender-segregated field than football, and in a field which particularly appeals to youth

Last updated Fri 26 May 2017

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Scouts and Premier League 'should be promoted in Libya' - ITV News

Officials say Holder's "Smart on Crime" policy "convoluted the process", and left prosecutors applying the law unevenly, which they said "is not Justice".

The memo sent by Sessions also rescinded the policies of former attorney general Eric Holder Jr., effectively immediately. He added that Sessions' policy was an "unwise and ill-informed decision" and that Congress should enact criminal-justice legislature to reverse the move. We will not allow the Attorney General to turn the clock back on federal criminal justice reform. However, the federal prison population is expected to grow under Sessions' watch, considering both his battle against drug offenses and the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, said in a statement that Sessions is trying to revive the "war on drugs", which she said "treated drugs, addiction and substance abuse as a crime instead of as a public health issue".

Sessions said the crackdown was "a key part of President Trump's promise to keep America safe", linking drug trafficking to increased homicide rates in some cities.

Sessions, who is also threatening to unwind police reform and recently said marijuana is "nearly as unsafe as heroin" (it is not), is certainly not going to let extremely clear facts and figures get in the way of his obsession with stuffing as many black and brown people into prisons and detention centers as he possibly can. It means that we are going to meet our responsibility to enforce the law with judgment and fairness.

"If you are a drug trafficker we will not look the other way, we will not be willfully blind to your misconduct", he said, promising that prosecutors would focus on traffickers and not low-level drug users. Harsher sentences don't work to deter crime, research has shown. Earlier this year, Sessions reversed a directive from the previous deputy attorney general Sally Yates that would stop the use of private prisons for holding federal prisoners. Ofer said that the new policy will harm communities and set minorities "on a vicious cycle of incarceration". It would also cut the Drug-Free Communities Support Program, which funds programs to prevent substance abuse among young people.

The Sessions memo was largely crafted by Steven H. Cook, a federal prosecutor who was president of the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys and is now detailed to the Justice Department.

"To be tough on crime we have to be smart on crime".

Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration, an organization of almost 200 current and former police chiefs, sheriffs, and prosecutors, called the move an "ineffective way to protect public safety".

Faith leaders across the country have opposed Sessions' confirmation as USA attorney general with petitions and statements, calling him unfit to make decisions that are helpful to communities of color across the U.S - especially around prison sentencing for black people.

"While we appreciate the attorney general's commitment to reducing crime and combating risky opioid abuse, we think his strategy is misguided, unsupported by evidence, and likely to do more harm than good", FAMM said. "This will help law enforcement do our jobs better".

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Former AG Eric Holder Calls Jeff Sessions New Policy 'Dumb on Crime' - AppsforPCdaily

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the deep-fried racist from Alabama, would like to turn the clock back to pre-Emancipation, but will settle for a return to the good old days of Bill Clinton, the mega-incarcerating con man from Hope, Arkansas.

It is important to maintain an historical perspective on the actual policies that are being pushed by Republican and Democratic political actors, given the corporate medias practice of revising history daily.

Sessionsnew instructionsdemand that his U.S. attorneys charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense, rather than adjust criminal charges and sentencing recommendations based on the defendants individual history and circumstances. Sessions insists that federal prosecutors push all the legal buttons necessary to activate mandatory minimum sentences, with no judicial discretion.

Sessions policy is not tough on crime. It is dumb on crime,saidhis predecessor, Eric Holder, who executed Barack Obamas so-called Smart on Crime initiative in response to a growing wave of Black protest during Obamas second term.

Timid leadership In typical fashion, Obama led from behind on criminal justice issues, positioning himself on the cautious side of the emerging establishment consensus that the U.S. prison population must be shrunk. Thus, the Obama administration gave ample lip service to rolling back patently racist crack cocaine penalties, but once legislation to that effect was passed, fought successfully in the courts to prevent early release of inmates convicted under the law.

Instead, prisoners were forced to undergo individual review. The lucky ones, who fit Eric Holders strict release eligibility guidelines, weredribbled out of prisonas public relations exhibits of Obamas kindness.

Obama and Holder did tolerate, and even encourage, a degree of prosecutorial discretion in framing charges and recommending sentences although they proposed no fundamental reforms to the system.

The truth is, prosecutorial discretion is an arbitrary tool of the state, a matter of convenience and budget-adjusting that has nothing to do with justice and leaves the repressive architecture of mass Black incarceration totally intact as should be obvious, since all it took was a memo from Jeff Sessions to undo the phony reform.

Defending Holders policies What Sessions is actually defending are the racist policies championed by Eric Holder himself, when he was US attorney for the District of Columbia in the mid-90s. Sessions needs only to drive his time machine back two decades to be in total synch with the Eric Holder who made his political bones by imposing systemic racial profiling on the streets of Black Washington, D.C.

Holder kicked off his Operation Ceasefire campaign on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.s birthday in 1995, framing his anti-crime strategy in civil rights terms the right of Black people to be safe. On his watch, Driving While Young and Black became sufficient cause for a police stop and search and all the consequences that follow.

The people who will be stopped will be young Black males, overwhelmingly, Holder conceded. However, the greater good must be served. Young Black males make up 1 percent of the national population but account for 18 percent of the nations homicides, he said.

Holders contribution Holders policy of targeting suspicious vehicles for stops with the aim of conducting searches is detailed inJames Forman Jr.snew book,Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, an indispensable resource for understanding the roots of modern mass incarceration and the role the Black political (misleadership) class played in creating the monster.

The man who would later declare that some banks are too big to prosecute (Hows that for discretion?) helped establish a national precedent for stripping constitutional protections from the suspicious demographics of society. James Forman reports that Holders signature pretext stops are responsible for most of the racial disparity in traffic stops, nationwide.

Thus, Eric Holder has contributed mightily to the misery endured by, literally, millions in the U.S. prison gulag over the last several decades, while his feeble discretionary criminal justice reforms under Obama have no lasting institutional impact.

Worse, Eric Holders past is a model for Attorney General Jeff Sessions future.

Glen Ford is executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. E-mail him at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

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Sessions, Holder and mass Black incarceration - Florida Courier