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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

The Italian Coast Guard says one of a group of boats listed suddenly, sending about 200 people tumbling into the Mediterranean.

Migrants from Africa arrive on shore after being rescued by Libyan coast guards rescued at sea, off the coastal town of Tajoura, 15 kilometres east of the capital Tripoli, on 23 May 2017. Picture: AFP.

ROME - At least 34 migrants, most of them toddlers, drowned on Wednesday, as coastguard boats and other vessels tried to save hundreds of others packed into boats off the coast of Libya, rescuers said.

One of a group of boats listed suddenly, sending about 200 people tumbling into the Mediterranean, Italian Coast Guard commander Cosimo Nicastro told Reuters.

"At least 20 dead bodies were spotted in the water," he said. Rescue group MOAS said it had already recovered 34 bodies. "Most are toddlers," the group's co-founder Chris Catrambone said on Twitter.

The coast guard called in more ships to help with the rescue, saying about 1,700 people were packed into about 15 vessels.

More than 1,300 people have died this year on the world's most dangerous crossing for migrants fleeing poverty and war across Africa and the Middle East.

In the past week, more than 7,000 migrants have been plucked from unsafe boats in international waters off the western coast of Libya, where people smugglers operate with impunity.

Despite efforts by Italy and the European Union to bolster the Tripoli-based coast guard and funnel training and equipment to fight trafficking to the U.N.-backed government, record numbers of migrants are coming this year.

More than 50,000 migrants have been rescued at sea and brought to Italy so far, a 46 percent increase on the same period of last year, the Interior Ministry said this week.

Most rescues take place just outside the 12-mile mark that separates Libyan territory from international waters. It is a busy stretch of sea where humanitarian vessels, the Libyan Coast Guard and even scavengers hoping to recover abandoned migrant boats and their engines all operate.

The Libyan Coast Guard on Tuesday fired shots as non-governmental vessels conducted rescues nearby, humanitarian group Jugend Rettet, which operates the Iuventa rescue ship, said on its Facebook page.

The shooting prompted about 100 migrants to jump into the water and swim toward humanitarian vessels. It was unclear if anyone had been killed or wounded. The Libyans then towed two migrant boats back to shore while humanitarian groups brought more than 1,000 on board.

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At least 34 migrants, mostly toddlers, drown off Libya - Eyewitness News

The man British police say blew himself up as a packed concert was letting out in Manchester, England, Monday night is believed to have traveled to Syria and had "proven" links with the Islamic State terror network.

British and French intelligence have information that Salman Abedi, 22, had been to Syria, although it was unclear if he was part of a larger network of attackers, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said Wednesday.

Collomb spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May and saidthe two countries should continue cooperating closely on counterterrorism efforts despite Britain's pending exit from the European Union.

It also wasreported the attacker had recently returned to the U.K. from Libya days before the attack, according to his friends.

Abedi who was born in Britain to Libyan parents had traveled to the war-torn North African nation "three weeks ago and came back, like, days ago," a friend toldThe Times of London.

Now, investigators are attempting to learn whether the university dropout attended a terrorist training camp in Libya, where ISIS and Al Qaeda fighters are engaged in a bloody war against government forces.

NEW ARRESTS IN MANCHESTER INVESTIGATION

Meanwhile,The Sunreported that investigators also werelooking at the possibility that Abedi had traveled to Syria from Libya without drawing the notice of British authorities. "His potential ties to Syria now very much forms one line of inquiry," one source told The Sun late Tuesday.

However, security sources told The Times their top priority was determining who built the bomb that caused such carnage at the Manchester Arena Monday night. Detectives who have viewed closed-circuit TV footage tell the paper that Abedi placed an explosive-laden suitcase on the ground in the foyer of Manchester Arena at around 10:30 p.m., as a concert by pop star Ariana Grande was ending.

Moments later, the bomb exploded, killing at least 22 people and injuring nearly 120 others. It was the deadliest terror attack on U.K. soil since a quartet of suicide bombers killed 52 people in central London in July 2005.

MANCHESTER VICTIMS IDENTIFIED

As Great Britain's terror threat was raised to its highest level for the first time in a decade, counterterrorism officers feared that the person who constructed the "sophisticated" explosive device could be on the loose.

Earlier Tuesday,at least 20 heavily armed, helmeted police surrounded a house listed as Abedi's address in the Fallowfield area of south Manchester and blasted down the door.

The British electoral roll lists Salman Abedi and Ismail Abedi as current residents of the house. Others with the same name are recorded as living there in previous years. Ismail Abedi, 23, was arrested on a nearby street and remained in custody Tuesday evening.

Neighbors remembered the suspected suicide bomber as atall, thin young man who often wore traditional Islamic dress.

Alan Kinsey, 52, who lives across the street, told the Associated Press he had seen "a lot of different people living there" in the past but in the last six months or more had only seen one young man in his 20s. Kinsey said he would often get picked up by another young man in a Toyota and often returned late.

"I thought he worked in a takeaway or something" because of his late hours, Kinsey said.

Other neighbors said Abedi had grown a beard in the past year, would chant Islamic prayers loudly in the street and flew the green flag of Libyan Islamists from the roof of his house.

A male relative of Abedi's told the Sun that he had seen him approximately ten days before the attack looking "happy, relaxed and smiling."

The family member added that Abedi's parents had recently returned to Libya, having initially fled to Britain to escape the rule of late dictator Muammar Qaddafi. He added that the suspected terrorist had been a keen soccer fan, supporting European club giants Manchester United and Real Madrid.

"We can't believe it. We can't take it in. It is terrible," the family member said of the attack. "It shows that it takes a short amount of time [to] change someone, sometimes."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Manchester attack: Suspect returned to UK from Libya days before bombing - Fox News