[ad_1]
CAIRO – ISIS gunmen fired on a bus carrying worshipers on Friday to a Coptic Christian monastery in Upper Egypt, leaving at least seven dead and 14 wounded, said a religious leader the local officials.
"Terrorists opened fire on a bus carrying people," said during a telephone interview the Coptic Christian Archbishop Makarious of Minya, a town about 150 kilometers south of Cairo. Pilgrims, said community leaders, were returning from a visit to St. Samuel the Confessor monastery in a remote corner of the western desert in Egypt. have claimed the attack through their Amaq press service. This is the first attack claimed by the militant group this year outside of northern Sinai, where it fights the Egyptian security forces.
[After Egypt church bombings, Israel closes southern border with Sinai]
Friday's violence comes more than a year after a similar badault on Christian pilgrims traveling to the same monastery. In May 2017, gunmen attacked buses carrying worshipers, killing at least 28 people. Since December 2017, the last major attack on Christians, the target group of the Coptic community has experienced relative calm. Friday 's attack, which raises fears, could mark the launch of a new deadly Islamic State campaign against Christians.
President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi tried Friday to appease the concerns of a community that strongly supported him, even though he was attacked by Islamist extremists the last two years. According to Egyptian officials and badysts, the targeting of Christians by the Islamic State is an effort to expand its activities beyond its traditional theater of operations in northern Sinai and to foment religious divisions. between Egyptians.
"I mourn with deep sorrow the martyrs killed today by traitors whose hands are aimed at undermining the strong fabric of the nation, and I wish a speedy recovery for the wounded," Sissi said in a statement. "I confirm our determination to continue our efforts to fight against black terrorism and apprehend the guilty."
[Campaign against Islamic State in Egypt is creating a humanitarian crisis, says rights group]
Friday's toll could have been much higher Several vehicles carrying Christian pilgrims, but the militants took for two buses, said Monsignor Aghathon Tala'at, leader of the Christian community.A bus escaped when its driver turned on another road.But the second bus, carrying at least 20 pbadengers, was stopped. by activists, who were in two SUVs, Tala said in a phone interview.
Pbadengers and then shot dead all the dead men, "said Tal at, who is the bishop of Maghagha, a neighboring town with a hospital where many wounded were treated. "They wore military-style uniforms, told survivors."
Images of the buses distributed on social media showed a bloody scene, including a wounded child. The executions related to executions are a reflection of the May 2017 attack during which armed men, also dressed in fatigues, killed some victims with one shot at the head.
Tanta, killing scores. Last month, an Egyptian military court sentenced 17 people convicted of these attacks to death. The defendants were accused of belonging to the Islamic State and orchestrating the attacks against the Christian community, which represents about 10% of the population.
[Egypt launches major offensive against Islamic State militants]
Attacks by the Islamic State prompted the Sissi government to launch a major military operation this year in Egypt. Restive north of Sinai province, the stronghold of militants. A wave of Islamist militancy has reigned in the country since the overthrow of the army by former president Mohamed Morsi and the ensuing crackdown on supporters of his Muslim Brotherhood party.
The Islamic State has also targeted Sufi Muslims, whom they regard as heretics. In November 2017, militants attacked a Sufi mosque in northern Sinai, killing more than 300 worshipers. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in modern history in Egypt.
After each badault on the Christian community, Egyptian security forces reinforce security around churches and other holy places in the country. But the violence of Friday indicated to many that such measures had not worked.
After the attack, Tala said, some people took to the streets angrily and blocked a road, demanding better security for their community. The remote western desert area, where militant groups have long targeted Egyptian security forces, has poor reception on mobile phones and unpaved and often unlit roads.
"There must be a security solution," Tala said. "The road is not well paved, there is not enough lightning and there is no cell network either. That's why it's targeted. "
Find out more
Today's Cover of Post Correspondents Around the World
Like Washington Post World on Facebook and Stay Updated on Foreign News
[ad_2]
Source link
