Gunmen attacked a group of Coptic Christians travelling to a monastery in southern Egypt on Friday, killing 28 people and wounding 25 others, and many children were among the victims, Health Ministry officials said.
Eyewitnesses said masked men opened fire after stopping the Christians, who were travelling in a bus and other vehicles.
Local television channels showed a bus apparently raked by gunfire and smeared with blood. Clothes and shoes could be seen lying in and around the bus.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan. It followed a series of church bombings claimed by Daish.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called a meeting of security officials, the state news agency said, and the cabinet said the attackers would not succeed in dividing the nation.
Muslim leaders condemned the killings. The grand imam of al-Azhar, Egypt's 1,000-year-old centre of Islamic learning, said the attack was intended to destabilise the country.
"I call on Egyptians to unite in the face of this brutal terrorism," Ahmed al-Tayeb said from Germany, where he was on a visit. The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shawki Allam, condemned the perpetrators as traitors.
The Coptic church said it had received news of the killing of its "martyrs" with pain and sorrow.
The attack took place on a road leading to the monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor in Minya province, which is home to a sizeable Christian minority. An Interior Ministry spokesman said the unidentified gunmen had arrived in three four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Security forces launched a hunt for the attackers, setting up dozens of checkpoints and patrols on the desert road.
Daish
Coptic Christians, whose church dates back nearly 2,000 years, make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 92 million.
They say they have long suffered from persecution, but in recent months the frequency of deadly attacks against them has increased. About 70 have been killed since December in bombings claimed by IS at churches in the cities of Cairo, Alexandria and Tanta.
A Daish campaign of murders in North Sinai prompted hundreds of Christians to flee in February and March.
Copts fear they will face the same fate as brethren in Iraq and Syria, where Christian communities have been decimated by wars and Islamic State persecution.
Egypt's Copts are vocal supporters of Sisi, who has vowed to crush Islamist extremism and protect Christians. He declared a three-month state of emergency in the aftermath of the latest church bombings in April.
But many Christians feel the state either does not take their plight seriously enough or cannot protect them against determined fanatics.
The government is fighting insurgents affiliated to Daish who have killed hundreds of police and soldiers in the Sinai peninsula, while also carrying out attacks elsewhere in the country.
Reuters
Fri May 26 2017
Security guards stand near the site of an attack that killed at least 26 people in Minya, Egypt May 26, 2017. - Photo Reuters/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
Penyanyi veteran Hail Amir meninggal dunia
Penyanyi veteran, Datuk Hail Amir, 76 dilaporkan meninggal dunia di Hospital Kuala Lumpur pada jam 3.40 petang, Isnin.
Agong tiba di Singapura bagi lawatan negara
Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim dan Raja Permaisuri Agong Raja Zarith Sofiah berangkat tiba di Singapura pada Isnin bagi mengadakan Lawatan Negara selama dua hari ke republik berkenaan.
Lawatan Negara itu adalah yang pertama sejak Seri Paduka Baginda menaiki takhta pada 31 Januari lalu dan ia merupakan jemputan Presiden Singapura Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
Lawatan Negara itu adalah yang pertama sejak Seri Paduka Baginda menaiki takhta pada 31 Januari lalu dan ia merupakan jemputan Presiden Singapura Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
Malaysia seru kukuhkan perpaduan negara anggota OIC untuk hadapi cabaran dalam Dunia Islam
Malaysia menyeru supaya perpaduan dalam kalangan negara anggota Pertubuhan Kerjasama Islam (OIC) diperkukuh bagi menghadapi cabaran yang dihadapi Dunia Islam.
Kes tembak Pasir Mas: Empat individu selesai beri keterangan
Polis selesai mengambil keterangan empat individu berhubung kes tembakan di Kampung Alor Pinggan di Gelang Mas, Pasir Mas, Ahad lepas.
AWANI Borneo [06/05/2024] – Tiga lemas | MA63 | PRN Sabah
Laporan berita padat dan ringkas dari Borneo bersama Assim Hassan
#AWANIBorneo 6 Mei 2024
- Operasi SAr tamat, korban tragedi kepala air Lahad Datu kekal tiga mangsa
- Teruskan kerjasama dengan kerajaan pusat, pastikan tuntutan
MA63 tidak terhenti - kata Wan Junaidi
- Armizan sahkan tiada rundingan dengan pareti lain, GRS perkukuh kerjasama dengan PH plus
#AWANInews
#AWANIBorneo 6 Mei 2024
- Operasi SAr tamat, korban tragedi kepala air Lahad Datu kekal tiga mangsa
- Teruskan kerjasama dengan kerajaan pusat, pastikan tuntutan
MA63 tidak terhenti - kata Wan Junaidi
- Armizan sahkan tiada rundingan dengan pareti lain, GRS perkukuh kerjasama dengan PH plus
#AWANInews
'Hail Amir peramah, senyuman tak lekang di bibir' - DJ Dave
Allahyarham Datuk Hail Amir semasa hayatnya merupakan seorang yang peramah, tidak pernah burukkan orang dan sentiasa melemparkan senyuman.
Tiada perjanjian dengan kerajaan untuk gugurkan saman - Bekas Pengarah SRC
Bekas Pengarah SRC Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi tidak mempunyai resolusi dengan kerajaan untuk menggugurkan saman sivil AS$1.18 bilion terhadapnya.
PM Anwar gesa respons bersama secara global semasa dunia berdepan landskap perpecahan
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim menyeru tindak balas bersepadu secara global ditampilkan semasa dunia berhadapan dengan landskap global yang semakin berpecah-belah.
Tiada perbincangan dengan parti lain, GRS perkukuh kerjasama dengan PH plus
Timbalan Setiausaha Agung GRS Datuk Armizan Ali mengesahkan gabungan itu tiada berbincang engan parti lain bagi menghadapi PRN17 selain kerangka sedia ada iaitu bersama GRS plus.
Kemajuan projek LRA Kopogon lebih pantas daripada jadual
Ahli Parlimen Papar Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali berkata pihaknya akan berbincang mengenai kaedah bagi mempercepatkan projek LRA Kopogon agar dapat beroperasi secepat mungkin khususnya pada bahagian muka sauk dan loji rawatan.