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MINYA, Egypt – Coptic Christians from the Egyptian city of Minya prepared to bury their dead on Saturday, a day after militants ambushed three buses carrying Christian pilgrims to an isolated desert monastery, making seven dead and 19 wounded.
A priest and members of a Christian congregation prayed and chanted a row of white coffins before the funeral service for the dead. All but one of the people killed belonged to the same family, according to a church-published list of victims, according to which a boy and a girl, aged 15 and 12 respectively, were among the dead.
The local affiliate of the group "Islamic State", which is spearheading militants fighting the security forces in the Sinai Peninsula, has claimed responsibility for the attack south of Cairo in a statement. He said the attack was a revenge for the imprisonment by the Egyptian authorities of "our chaste sisters" without further details.
The ISI affiliate said that 13 Christians had been killed and 18 others injured, but it was not immediately possible to independently verify the claim nor reconcile differences in the number of dead and wounded reported by the group and the church.
The attack was likely to cast a dark shadow on one of the jewels of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi – the World Youth Forum – which opens this Saturday in the seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, on the sea Red, and hopes to attract thousands of local and foreign youth. discuss upcoming projects, with the Egyptian leader 63 years old at the forefront.
The Islamic State has repeatedly pledged to prosecute Christians in Egypt as punishment for their support of al-Sisi. As Minister of Defense, el-Sissi led the army's overthrow of the Islamist president in 2013, whose one-year reign created divisions. He claimed the series of deadly attacks perpetrated against Christians since December 2016.
El-Sissi, who has made economy and security his top priority since taking office in 2014, wrote on his Twitter account that Friday's attack was designed to undermine the "solid fabric of the nation" and pledged to continue the fight against terrorism. He then conveyed his condolences when he spoke by telephone with Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of the Egyptian Orthodox Christians and close ally of Sissi el-Sissi.
In a dark message, Tawadros said in a video clip published by the church that the latest attack would only strengthen Christians.
"I think it's a terrorist act that targets Egypt by playing the Coptic map," said Begemy Nassem Nasr, priest of the Holy Church. Mary of Minya. "We know that … President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi is the host of the youth forum and that they intend to embarrass her."
Friday's attack is the second to target pilgrims traveling to St. Samuel the Confessor Monastery in as many years, indicating that the security measures in place since then have either been inadequate or lax. The previous attack of May 2017 had killed nearly 30 people. It is also the latest in Is to target Christians in the churches of Cairo, Alexandria and Tanta, in the Mediterranean region, in the Nile Delta north of the capital.
These attacks left at least 100 people dead and increased security around Christian places of worship and church-related facilities. They also highlighted the vulnerability of minority Christians in a country where, since the 1970s, many Muslims have become religiously conservative.
The Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, said Friday's attackers had used secondary dirt roads to reach the buses carrying the pilgrims, who were near the monastery at the time of the attack. Only pilgrims have been allowed on the main road leading to the monastery since the attack last year.
The Interior Ministry claimed that only one bus had been attacked, but the latest statement from the church indicates that three buses were targeted and left 7 dead and 19 wounded, including two in critical condition.
The Interior Ministry said the police were pursuing the attackers, who had fled.
Christians in Egypt, who make up about 10 percent of the country's 100 million people, complain of discrimination in the predominantly Muslim country. Christian activists said the church's alliance with el-Sisi had offered protection to the ancient community, but failed to put an end to frequent acts of discrimination that lead to violence against Christians especially in rural areas of Egypt.
In Minya, the scene of Friday's attack, Christians make up the highest percentage of the population – about 35 percent – of all Egyptian provinces. It is also in Minya where most acts of violence occur, such as attacks on churches, houses and Christian businesses.
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Hendawi brought back from Cairo.
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