Video: Islamist ISIS kills Ethiopian Christians in Libya

This undated image made from a video released by Islamic State militants, Sunday, April 19, 2015, shows a group of captured Ethiopian Christians taken to a beach before they were killed by Islamic State militants, in Libya. The 29-minute video released online Sunday purportedly shows two groups of captives. It says one group is held by an IS affiliate in eastern Libya and the other by an affiliate in the south. A masked fighter delivers a long statement before the video switches between footage that purportedly shows the captives in the south being shot dead and the captives in the east being beheaded on a beach. AP

CAIRO, Egypt — Islamic State militants in Libya shot and beheaded groups of captive Ethiopian Christians, a video purportedly from the extremists showed Sunday. The attack widens the circle of nations affected by the group’s atrocities while showing its growth beyond a self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq.

The release of the 29-minute video comes a day after Afghanistan’s president blamed the extremists for a suicide attack in his country that killed at least 35 people — and underscores the chaos gripping Libya after its 2011 civil war and the killing of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

READ: ISIS claims deadly Afghan suicide attack–President Ghani

It also mirrored a film released in February showing militants beheading 21 captured Egyptian Christians on a Libyan beach, which immediately drew Egyptian airstrikes on the group’s suspected positions in Libya. Whether Ethiopia would — or could — respond with similar military force remains unclear.