Masked gunmen attacked a bus carrying Coptic Christians on a visit to a monastery south of the Egyptian capital on Friday, killing at least 28 people including children, officials said. The assailants in three pick-up trucks attacked the bus as it was heading for the Saint Samuel monastery in Minya province, more than 200 kilometres (120 miles) from Cairo, before fleeing, the interior ministry said.
It was the latest attack on Copts after Islamic State (IS) group jihadists bombed three churches in December and April, killing dozens of Christians. Footage of the bus on state television showed the vehicle riddled with machinegun fire, its windows shot out. Cellphone footage and pictures on Egyptian media sites showed several victims who had apparently been shot dead lying in the desert sand around the bus.
State television quoted a health ministry official as saying a "large number" of the victims were children. "They used automatic weapons," Minya governor Essam el-Bedawi told state television of the attackers. Bedawi said police were fanning out along the road where the attack took place and had set up checkpoints. State television cited the health minister as saying the attack killed 28 people. The latest attack came after jihadists had threatened more strikes against the Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 90-million population. The north Minya town of Maghagha saw scenes of anger and despair and Friday. A group of around 50 men gathered near a church where the funeral of two victims was held, calling for the interior minister to "beat it" and for his ouster. Nearby, a dozen women dressed in dusty black robes cried and moaned.
In a statement on its spokesman's Facebook page, the Coptic Church called for "measures to be taken to prevent the dangers of those incidents that tarnish Egypt's image". Suicide bombers with the jihadist group struck a Cairo church on December 11, killing 29 people.
On April 11, bombers attacked two churches north of Cairo on Palm Sunday, killing 45 in the deadliest strike in living memory against the Copts. The Copts' Pope Tawadros II had been leading a service in one of the two churches attacked that day. The bombings prompted President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare a three-month state of emergency. The Egyptian affiliate of IS has also killed several Copts in North Sinai, forcing dozens of families to flee the province in January.
Friday's shooting came after a historic visit to Egypt by Roman Catholic Pope Francis to show solidarity with the country's Christians. In his late April trip, Francis visited one of the bombed Coptic churches and condemned violence carried out in the name of God. Al-Azhar, Egypt's top religious authority, condemned Friday's shooting on the eve of the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramazan. "The Minya incident is unacceptable to Muslims and Christians and it targets Egypt's stability," Al-Azhar's Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb said in a statement.
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