President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called Sunday an urgent meeting of Egypt's top national security body after jihadists released a video purportedly showing the beheading of Egyptian Christians in Libya.
The footage posted online by the Islamic State group shows the handcuffed Coptic hostages in orange jumpsuits being beheaded by their black-suited captors on a seashore south of the Libyan capital.
The security body groups Sisi, his defence and interior ministers and top military figures in Egypt, which last year denied reports of having carried out air strikes on Islamists in Libya.