Massacre of Ethiopian Christians in Libya claimed by ISIL

Video released online shows one group of captives being shot and another group being beheaded on a beach

International media report that a new video from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) shows the group killing captured Ethiopian Christians in Libya. The 29-minute video released online on Sunday shows two groups of dark-skinned captives and says one group is held by an ISIL affiliate in eastern Libya and the other by an affiliate in the south.

A masked fighter reportedly delivers a long statement before the video switches between footage of the captives in the south being shot to death and the captives in the east being beheaded on a beach.

The footage was released online and shows one group of about 12 men being beheaded by armed men on a beach and another group of at least 16 being shot in the head in a desert area, but it was not immediately clear who the captives were.

The video bore the official logo of the ISIL media arm Al-Furqan and resembled previous videos released by the group and a text on the screen identifies the men as "followers of the cross from the enemy Ethiopian Church".