IS attack on Christian pilgrims in Egypt kills seven, wounds 19
MINYA — Islamic militants on Friday ambushed three buses carrying Christian pilgrims on their way to a remote desert monastery south of the Egyptian capital of Cairo, killing seven and wounding 19, according to the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Interior Ministry.
All but one of those killed were members of the same family, according to a list of the victims' names released by the church, which said among the dead were a boy and a girl, age 15 and 12 respectively.
The local Islamic State affiliate which spearheads militants fighting security forces in the Sinai Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, according to SITE, a U.s.-based group that monitors and translates militants' statements. It said the attack was revenge for the imprisonment by Egyptian authorities of "our chaste sisters." It did not elaborate.
It said the attack left 13 Christians killed and another 18 wounded, but it was not immediately possible to independently verify the claim or reconcile the discrepancy in the number of dead and wounded given by the group and the church.
The Islamic State has repeatedly vowed to go after Egypt's Christians as punishment for their support of President Abdel-fattah elsissi. As defense minister, el-sissi led the military's 2013 ouster of an Islamist president, whose one-year rule proved divisive. It has claimed responsibility for a string of deadly attacks on Christians dating back to December 2016.
El-sissi, who has made the economy and security his top priorities since taking office in 2014, wrote on his Twitter account that Friday's attack was designed to harm the "nation's solid fabric" and pledged to continue fighting terrorism. He later offered his condolences when he spoke by telephone with Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt's Orthodox Christians and a close elsissi ally.
In a somber message of his own, Tawadros said in a video clip released by the church that the latest attack would only make the Christians stronger. "We also pray for the assailants. They are misled because all the grief, pain and frustration they cause will achieve absolutely nothing."
The attack is likely to cast a dark shadow on one of el-sissi's showpieces — the World Youth Forum — which opens Saturday in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-sheikh and hopes to draw thousands of local and foreign youth to discuss upcoming projects, with Egypt's 63-year-old leader taking center stage.
"They want to embarrass el-sissi and show that the state is unable to protect the Copts," said Fr. Begemy Naseem Nasr, the priest of the church of Saint Mary in Minya. "Egypt is the target AP PHOTO BY here and we all know that."
Friday's attack is the second to target pilgrims heading to the St. Samuel the Confessor monastery in as many years, indicating that security measures in place since then are either inadequate or have become lax. The previous attack in May 2017 left nearly 30 people dead. It is also the latest by IS to target Christians in churches in Cairo, the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and Tanta in the Nile Delta north of the capital.