Ethiopian Christians beheaded and shot by Isis 'were migrants hoping to reach UK and Europe'

Two of the thirty Ethiopian Christians brutally shot and beheaded by Isis were migrants in search of a better life in the UK, their devastated family members have said.

Isis’ media arm released a 29-minute video purporting to show militants executing captives in Libya on Sunday. The footage bore the extremist group’s al-Furqan media logo and showed the destruction of churches and desecration of religious symbols. A masked fighter made a statement threatening Christians who did not convert to Islam or pay a special tax.

One group of men is then shown being beheaded by militants on the beach, followed by another group who are shot in the head in the desert. Officials are trying to verify the video and the identities and nationalities of those within it.

Relatives identified two of the victims from the footage, who they named as Eyasu Yikunoamlak and Balcha Belete. They told the Associated Press that the pair left Cherkos Village in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa via Sudan and then travelled to Libya in the hope of taking a boat to Europe.

Seyoum Yikunoamlak, the older brother of Eyasu, learned of his death on Facebook. "I was very worried how to tell our family but everyone is a Facebook user these days so people in our village told our family that Eyasu was among the group that are on the (Isis) video," he told AP.

"His dream was to go to Italy and then reach the UK and help himself and his family members.”

Redwan Hussein, an Ethiopian government spokesman, said on Sunday he believed the migrants were trying to reach Europe. The country will begin three days of national mourning to mark the mass killings on Tuesday and members of the government will meet to discuss a possible response.

Another friend of the two men said he was not deterred from trying to reach Europe despite the distressing video. "There is no job opportunity here. I will try my luck too, but not through Libya," he said. "I want to move out. There is no chance to improve yourself here. This is the whole community's opinion."

The massacre was condemned by Pope Francis on Monday, who said he learnt of their deaths “with great distress and sadness”.

"The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard by everyone who can still distinguish between good and evil. All the more this cry must be heard by those who have the destiny of peoples in their hands," he said in a letter to Patriarch Abuna Matthias of the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church.