Tears and joy as 20 Egyptian Christians killed in Libya laid to rest

Coptic Egyptians pray during a funeral ceremony for the remains of the bodies of 20 Egyptian Christians beheaded in Libya by Islamic State in 2015, at a church in al-Our village south of Cairo, Egypt May 15, 2018.

Tears mixed with joy on Tuesday as the remains of 20 Christians were laid to rest in Egypt’s Minya province more than three years after they were kidnapped and beheaded in Libya in an attack that provoked rare Egyptian air strikes.

The return of the bodies of 20 Egyptian Copts has brought families in rural Egypt a chance for some closure after years in mourning with little hope of having the bodies of their loved ones being recovered for burial.