Seven Coptic churchgoers slain at midnight mass in Egypt

Drive-by shooters sprayed automatic gunfire into a crowd of churchgoers in southern Egypt, killing at least seven people as they streamed out of church after midnight Mass, officials said Thursday. Three other people were seriously wounded.

The attack took place overnight in Nag Hamadi, about 40 miles from popular tourist sites at the ancient ruins of Luxor. It was in apparent retaliation for the rape of a 12-year-old Muslim girl by a Christian man in November, according to an Interior Ministry statement carried by news agencies.

The victims had been worshipping on the eve of Coptic Christmas, which Egypt’s minority Christians celebrate on Jan. 7 along with Orthodox communities around the world. About 10 percent of Egypt’s 83 million people are Coptic Christians, who frequently complain of discrimination and sectarian attacks in the predominantly Muslim country.

Excerpted from an article by Lauren Frayer for Sphere

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Tags: Luxor

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 6:31 pm and is filed under Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.