The attack of Christians makes at least 7 dead in Egypt

CAIRO – Islamist militants ambushed a bus with pilgrims this Friday Christians They traveled to an isolated monastery south of the Egyptian capital and killed at least seven of them and wounded 12, the Interior Ministry said.

The spokesperson of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Halim Bouls said the death toll was likely to increase. Local officials of the church in Minya province, where the attackThey said that there were three more deaths than the total reported by the government, but this figure can not be confirmed.

No group has immediately claimed the attack, which bears the hallmarks of the ISIS group which, for years, has been fighting against the security forces in the Sinai Peninsula and in the porous border of the desert. L & # 39; Egypt with Libya.

It was the second attack in two years against the pilgrims going to the monastery of San Samuel Confessor. L & # 39; other attackin May 2017, killed nearly 30 people.

The Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, said the attackers had used other unpaved roads to reach their target, close to their destination at the time of the attack. attack.

It is the latest in a series of deadly attacks on churches in Cairo, in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and in Tanta, in the Nile Delta, north of the capital. These attacks, all claimed by the Islamic State, resulted in at least 100 deaths and increased security in places of worship and other church-related facilities.

Christians, who represent 10% of the Egyptian population of about 100 million inhabitants, complain of discrimination in the predominantly Muslim country.

The Coptic Church has allied with President Abdel-Fatah el-Sisi when he led, as Defense Minister, a coup of the military state against Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. in 2013.