Egypt: At least 29 killed after shooters target Coptic Christians
No group claimed responsibility for the attack targeting the country’s religious minority.
Masked attackers shot dead 29 people and wounded 26 others on their way to a Coptic Christian monastery in southern Egypt on Friday, Reuters quoted medical officials as saying. While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack targeting the country’s religious minority, the Islamic State had admitted to having perpetrated blasts against the community in the past.
State TV had earlier said at least 23 people were killed and 25 wounded in the attack, Al Jazeera reported.
The group was travelling in two buses and a small truck in the country’s Minya province, which is where the community’s population is largely concentrated in. Witnesses said the devotees were on their way to the monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor when the attackers stopped their vehicles and started firing.
Since December, 70 Coptic Christians have been killed in explosions at churches in the cities of Cairo, Alexandria and Tanta.
