Terrorist attack targeted bus in Upper Egypt killing 25 Copts

More than 30 people were killed and dozens of Coptic Egyptians wounded Friday in an armed attack on a bus heading to a monastery in Upper Egypt’s governorate of Minya. According to Egypt’s Health Ministry, the attack led to the killing of at least 26 people and wounded 25 others, while others said that the number of victims is much more. Coptic Bishop Armia said that over 35 Coptic citizens have been killed, including children, during the attack.
Masked gunmen attacked a group of Coptic Christians in southern Egypt on Friday, killing 26 people and wounding 26 others as they were driving to a monastery, medical sources and eyewitnesses said.
The group was traveling in two buses and a small truck in Minya province, which is home to a sizeable Christian minority, the sources said. Provincial governor Essam Al-Bedaiwy said earlier that 23 peoople had been killed and 25 wounded.

Eyewitnesses said the Copts were attacked as they were going to pray at the monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor in the western part of the province. They said masked men stopped the vehicles on a road leading to the monastery and opened fire.
Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 92 million, have been the subject of a series of deadly attacks in recent months. About 70 have been killed in bomb attacks on churches in the cities of Cairo, Alexandria and Tanta since December. Those attacks were claimed by ISIS. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday’s attack.
In the same context, Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church issued a statement over the terrorist attack that targeted Coptic citizens on Friday during driving to a monastery.
The church said, in its statement, “We received with all the pain and sorrow the news of that sinful attack on Egyptian Copts on their way to a monastery. The attack left a number of martyrs and injured in Minya’s city of Maghagha.
The church expressed its condolences to the families of the victims, stressing its solidarity with the country as whole for such wave of violence targeting the heart of Egypt and its national unity.
The church stressed its appreciation to the rapid response from the Egyptian officials in dealing with the incident, expressing its aspiration for serious measures to avoid its repetition.