[ad_1]
CAIRE – ISIS gunmen opened fire Friday on a bus carrying worshipers to a Coptic Christian monastery in Upper Egypt, killing at least seven people and injuring 14 others, a senior religious official said. local officials.
"Terrorists opened fire on a bus carrying people," said during a telephone interview the Makarious Christian Coptic Archbishop of Minya, a town 150 km south of Cairo. The pilgrims, said community leaders, were returning from a visit to St. Samuel the Confessor Monastery in a remote corner of the western desert of Egypt.
On Friday night, the affiliate of the Islamic State of Egypt, which pledged to target Coptic Christians in the nation, claimed the attack through its Amaq press service. This was the first attack claimed by the militant group this year outside of northern Sinai, where it fights Egyptian security forces.
[After Egypt church bombings, Israel closes southern border with Sinai]
Friday's violence comes more than a year after a similar assault 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 scares many, could signal the launch of another deadly Islamic State campaign against Christians.
President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi sought Friday to appease the concerns of a community that strongly supported him, even though they were attacked by Islamist extremists for two years. Egyptian officials and analysts see the targeting of Christians by the Islamic State as an effort to expand beyond their traditional theater of operations in northern Sinai and to foment religious divisions. between the Egyptians.
"I mourn with deep sorrow the martyrs who have been killed today by treacherous hands that aim to undermine the strong fabric of the nation, and 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]
The number of dead Friday could have been much higher. Several vehicles carried Christian pilgrims, but activists targeted two buses, said Bishop Aghathon Tala'at, leader of the Christian community. A bus escaped when his driver turned on another road. But the second bus, carrying at least 20 passengers, was stopped by militants, who were in two SUVs, Tala said in a phone interview.
"A number of masked men came out of them, took the passengers' cell phones and then shot dead all the dead men," said Tala & At, Bishop of Maghagha, a nearby town with a hospital where many injured were treated. "They wore military-style uniforms, told me about the survivors."
Bus images distributed on social media showed a bloody scene, including a wounded child. The assassinations of execution resemble the attack of May 2017, during which armed men, also dressed in fatigues, killed some victims with a single shot to the head.
Since 2016, Islamic State suicide bombers in Egypt have targeted churches in Cairo, Alexandria and Tanta, claiming many lives. 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]
ISIS attacks prompted the Sissi government to launch a major military operation this year in the troubled province of north Sinai, Egypt, the stronghold of militants. A wave of Islamist militancy has reigned in the country since the overthrow of the army by former president-elect Mohamed Morsi and the subsequent crackdown on supporters of his Muslim Brotherhood party.
ISIS has also targeted Sufi Muslims, who 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 the modern history of Egypt.
After every assault on the Christian community, Egyptian security forces reinforce security around churches and other holy places in the country. But Friday's violence was an indicator for 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 region, where militant groups have long targeted Egyptian security forces, is poorly received by mobile phones and on unpaved and often unlit roads.
"There must be a security solution," said Tala & # 39; at. "The road is not well paved, there is not enough lightning and there is no cell network either. That's why it's targeted. "
Read more
Today's coverage of Swiss Post correspondents around the world
Love Washington Post World on Facebook and stay up to date on foreign news
[ad_2]Source link
