On Thursday, 21 Christians beheaded by ISIS in 2015 in the Libyan coast were honored in an Egyptian church dedicated to them.
The 21 Christians comprised 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians and one Ghanaian believer and their horrific death in the hands of the extremist group was broadcasted online. According to the report of the Independent Catholic News, the church built in al-Our, Minya Province, Egypt is built in memory of these Christians.
The relatives of these 21 martyrs were expected to attend the inauguration ceremony and the remains of the martyrs are to be buried in the site.
The martyrs were kidnapped in January 2015 and their beheading was shown online a month later with a title 'A message signed with blood to the nation of the cross.' President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi approved of the request to build a church in al-Our afterwards to honor the dead.
In October 2017, the bodies of the martyrs were located in the city of Sirte according to the report of the World Watch Monitor.
This is not the first time Coptic Christians were attacked in Egypt as the community has been attacked by Islamist groups. In 2016, for instance, ISIS bombed a Cairo Coptic Church and killed 27.
