Egyptian Forces Kill 19 Militants after Deadly Attack on Coptic Christians
On Friday, ISIS terrorist opened fire on two buses carrying Christians near the Monastery of St Samuel in Minya, killing seven and wounding 20 others
Dr. Shaul Shay
| 07/11/2018
Photo: AP
Terrorists opened fire on three buses carrying Coptic Christians near the Monastery of St Samuel in Minya governorate, on November 2, 2018, killing seven and wounding 20 others. ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the group’s Amaq news agency.
Egyptian security forces surrounded the area, evacuated the injured to hospitals and launched searches for the perpetrators. Meanwhile, Egypt’s prosecutor-general, Nabil Sadek, has dispatched a team of prosecutors to the site of the attack to start investigations.
President El-Sisi called Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, to express his sincere condolences for the victims of the terrorist attack.
Two days after the terror attack, on November 4, 2018, Egyptian police has killed 19 terrorists involved in the attack on the Coptic Christians. The terrorists were killed in a shootout after they opened fire on security forces as they approached them in their hideout in a mountainous area west of Minya governorate.
The attack was widely condemned, including by Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Bahrain's Foreign Ministry, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Yemeni President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi, and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
Summary
Christians make up around 10 percent of Egypt's 97 million populations. The attack is the latest in a series of assaults targeting the country's Christian minority in El Arish in Sinai and churches in Cairo, Alexandria, and Tanta in the Nile Delta. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group that was also behind some of the attacks including an attack that killed 28 people in almost the same area in May 2017.
On February 9, 2018, the Egyptian armed forces launched Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018 to target terrorist and criminal elements and organizations in northern and central Sinai, parts of the Nile Delta and the Western Desert. The operation involves land, naval and air forces, as well as police and border guards.
The Egyptian security forces have carried out in October 2018 several raids on militant targets in Upper Egypt, killing nine terrorists in a remote area of Assiut and 11 terrorists in the mountainous area of Dashlout-Farafra.
Operation Sinai 2018 is a major component of Egypt's counter-terror strategy, and it will have a significant long-term impact on the terror threat in the country. After eight months, ISIS Sinai Province is weaker but still very much a force to be reckoned with.
In Egypt, the regime is ready to make all the efforts to protect the local Christian population but the Islamic insurgency in Egypt is far from being over, and the government is unlikely to end its crackdown on the Brotherhood, ISIS and other Islamist groups, anytime soon.
[Sources: Al Arabiya, Ahram Online (1,2), Xinhua, Arab News]
On Friday, ISIS terrorist opened fire on two buses carrying Christians near the Monastery of St Samuel in Minya, killing seven and wounding 20 others
Photo: AP
Terrorists opened fire on three buses carrying Coptic Christians near the Monastery of St Samuel in Minya governorate, on November 2, 2018, killing seven and wounding 20 others. ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the group’s Amaq news agency.
Egyptian security forces surrounded the area, evacuated the injured to hospitals and launched searches for the perpetrators. Meanwhile, Egypt’s prosecutor-general, Nabil Sadek, has dispatched a team of prosecutors to the site of the attack to start investigations.
President El-Sisi called Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, to express his sincere condolences for the victims of the terrorist attack.
Two days after the terror attack, on November 4, 2018, Egyptian police has killed 19 terrorists involved in the attack on the Coptic Christians. The terrorists were killed in a shootout after they opened fire on security forces as they approached them in their hideout in a mountainous area west of Minya governorate.
The attack was widely condemned, including by Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Bahrain's Foreign Ministry, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Yemeni President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi, and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
Summary
Christians make up around 10 percent of Egypt's 97 million populations. The attack is the latest in a series of assaults targeting the country's Christian minority in El Arish in Sinai and churches in Cairo, Alexandria, and Tanta in the Nile Delta. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group that was also behind some of the attacks including an attack that killed 28 people in almost the same area in May 2017.
On February 9, 2018, the Egyptian armed forces launched Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018 to target terrorist and criminal elements and organizations in northern and central Sinai, parts of the Nile Delta and the Western Desert. The operation involves land, naval and air forces, as well as police and border guards.
The Egyptian security forces have carried out in October 2018 several raids on militant targets in Upper Egypt, killing nine terrorists in a remote area of Assiut and 11 terrorists in the mountainous area of Dashlout-Farafra.
Operation Sinai 2018 is a major component of Egypt's counter-terror strategy, and it will have a significant long-term impact on the terror threat in the country. After eight months, ISIS Sinai Province is weaker but still very much a force to be reckoned with.
In Egypt, the regime is ready to make all the efforts to protect the local Christian population but the Islamic insurgency in Egypt is far from being over, and the government is unlikely to end its crackdown on the Brotherhood, ISIS and other Islamist groups, anytime soon.
[Sources: Al Arabiya, Ahram Online (1,2), Xinhua, Arab News]
