Attack on Christian pilgrims kills 7
MINYA, Egypt — 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 el-Sissi. 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.
Egypt’s Christians, who account for some 10 percent of the country’s 100 million people, complain of discrimination in the Muslim majority country. Christian activists say the church’s alliance with el-Sissi has offered the ancient community a measure of protection but failed to end frequent acts of discrimination that boils over into violence against Christians, especially in rural Egypt.
In Minya, the scene of Friday’s attack, Christians constitute the highest percentage of the population — about 35 percent — of any Egyptian province. It’s also in Minya where most acts of violence, like attacks on churches and Christian homes and businesses take place.