ISIS Video Purports to Show Killing of Ethiopian Christians

The Islamic State released a video on Sunday that appears to show fighters from affiliates in southern and eastern Libya executing dozens of Ethiopian Christians, some by beheading and others by shooting.

Prefaced by extensive speeches and interviews that appear to take place in the Islamic State’s strongholds in Syria and Iraq, the footage of the killings, if confirmed, would be the first evidence that the group’s leaders in those countries are coordinating with fighters who have taken up the group’s banner in those parts of Libya, compounding fears of its expansion across the Mediterranean.

The video released on Sunday appears to show Islamic State fighters in what it called “Fezzan province,” in the south, and “Barqa province,” in the east, carrying out executions according to the group’s trademark rituals.

Militants in Egypt, Algeria, Afghanistan, Nigeria and elsewhere have all pledged loyalty to the Islamic State and its self-declared caliphate, but Libya is the first country outside the group’s territory in Syria and Iraq where its core leadership has demonstrated practical communication and collaboration with its far-flung “provinces.”

If more confirmation of its authenticity emerges, the new video will upend both Western and Libyan views of the Islamic State’s presence in the country.

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