Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
Last month Libyan officials uncovered dozens of bodies from a mass grave used by the Islamic State, Catholic News Agency reported. The bodies of 34 Ethiopian Christians killed by the terrorist group in 2015 will soon be sent back to Ethiopia, where they will be laid to rest with the dignity they deserve.
According to Reuters, an ISIS propaganda video posted to social media in April 2015 appeared to show militants beheading Ethiopian Christians, who were wearing orange jumpsuits, on a beach.
According to the Libyan interior ministry, officials discovered the mass grave Dec. 23 after interrogating detained members of the extremist organization. The grave was dug on a plot of farmland near the coastal city of Sirte, which the Islamic State controlled until United Nations-backed forces reclaimed the city in December 2016.
The group were in Libya seeking employment as migrant workers, International Christian Concern reported.
The killings occurred just months after the terrorists beheaded a group of Coptic Christians in 2015. A mass grave from that slaughter was discovered in October 2017.
The Islamic State and other extremist groups still maintain strongholds in parts of Libys are still active in Libya and retain control of parts of the country. Christian global persecution watchdog Open Doors ranks Libya as the seventh most dangerous country for Christians.
On Christmas Day, at least three people were killed and 21 injured when a suicide bomber detonated near the capital Tripoli. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, during which a senior Libyan diplomat was killed, according to the Daily Mail.
