Egypt urges strong global action against terror groups

　　CAIRO, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Egypt on Monday urged the international community to take a unified stance to face the terror groups, according to a statement by the Foreign Ministry.

　　The appeal came one day after the Islamic State (IS) militant group released a video purporting to show the beheading of 21 Egyptians in the turmoil-stricken Libya.

　　The statement said that Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri headed to New York on Monday to hold talks with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other senior officials on means to face terrorism.

　　"Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri will ask senior United Nations officials in New York to take strong, effective and tough actions against terrorist organizations that share the same extremist ideology," the ministry's spokesman, Badr Abdel-Aaty, said in the statement.

　　Earlier in the day, Egypt announced for the first time launching airstrikes against IS targets in Libya.

　　Head of the Libyan air forces, Saqer al-Joroushi, said later that the raids killed over 40 suspected IS militants.

　　Meanwhile, official MENA news agency reported that Egypt and France called for a UN Security Council meeting to take new anti-IS action following a phone call between Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and his French counterpart, Francois Hollande.