Militants shoot dead Copt in Egypt’s Sinai

ISIL prime suspects in crime against Christian teacher

EL ARISH, EGYPT // Suspected militants shot dead a Coptic Christian teacher on his way to school in northern Sinai, officials said yesterday amid fears that attacks on Christians are escalating.

It was the second killing of a Christian in less than a week in the turbulent region.

Gamal Tawfiq, 50, was shot in the head by two militants on a motorbike who followed him as he walked from home to work at El Samran school in the coastal city of El Arish.

There was no claim of responsibility for the killing, but a security official said ISIL’s affiliate in Sinai was the prime suspect for the attack.

A school official confirmed Tawfiq’s death but declined to give details.

On Sunday, suspected militants gunned down veterinary surgeon Bahgat Zakher in El Arish, and in late January, Wael Milad, a merchant, was killed by militants who stormed his shop. Both of the victims were Coptic Christians.

Egypt is home to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, accounting for roughly 10 per cent of its 92 million people. The Copts have long complained of discrimination and have frequently been targeted by militants.

ISIL claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in a packed Coptic church in Cairo in December that killed nearly 30 worshippers.

Since the 2011 uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak, northern Sinai has plunged deeper into strife, with Islamic militants gaining a strong foothold.

The insurgency in Sinai became deadlier and spread to the mainland after the military toppled ex-president Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

Most Egyptian Christians, along with many of the country’s Muslim majority, supported the ousting of Morsi, thus inviting violent retaliation from the militants.