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Seven people were killed and another 15 injured when suspected Islamic State militants targeted a bank and a church in Egypt.
Egyptian Christians, known as Copts, have been facing intensified persecution recently. According to The Christian Post, the ISIS militants attacked a bank and then the Church of Saint George in El-Arish, Egypt. They reportedly robbed the bank and then proceeded to fire on security forces who were guarding the unused church.
The militants then celebrated the attack by waving their black flags and marching through the streets.
“The militants fired shots randomly in the street as if they were celebrating with some of them raising their black flags (of ISIS) and they roamed the streets for about 20 minutes then disappeared,” said Alaa Lotfy, a shop owner in the area who was a witness to the attack.
This attack marks the second attack on Coptic Christians in hardly more than a week. Last week, Samaan Shehta, a Coptic Christian priest, was slain by a suspected ISIS militant. The attack was caught on video.
“This incident makes us once again ask so many questions. Why should a priest not be able to walk safely down a street, especially a suburban street in Cairo?” asked Bishop Anba Angaelos, the General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church. “Why should he be chased by a man brandishing a deadly weapon and have no one run to his aid; in actual fact, everyone was running away.”
Photo courtesy: ©Thinkstockphotos.com
Publication date: October 17, 2017
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