Benghazi, Feb. 20 (Reuters): Militants claiming loyalty to the Islamic State killed 40 people by blowing themselves up in cars laden with explosives in eastern Libya today.

The attacks were in retaliating to Egyptian air strikes on Islamist targets.

"They killed and wounded tens in revenge for the bloodshed of Muslims in the city of Derna," said a statement issued by the "Islamic State, Cyrenaica province". The authenticity of the statement could not be verified by Reuters.

Parliamentary speaker Aguila Saleh said the bombs appeared to have been in retaliation to Egyptian air raids on nearby Derna, an Islamist hotspot. On Monday, Egyptian air force jets bombed suspected IS targets in Derna, a day after the ultra-radical group released a video showing 21 captive Egyptian Christian workers being decapitated on a beach.

Three bombs exploded shortly before Friday prayers at a petrol station, the local security headquarters and the town council in Qubbah, which is Saleh's hometown, security officials said. His house is close to the town council.

There have been suicide and car bomb attacks mainly in the east of Libya but the targets have tended to be police and army bases rather than civilians, with security officials blaming Islamist groups such as Ansar al-Sharia. "We are announcing seven days of mourning for the victims of Qubbah," Saleh said.