Tag: El-Arish

IS claims deadly attack near old Egyptian monastery

April 20, 2017 Egypt Copts, El-Arish, Ismailia, Sinai

One policeman was killed and four others injured when gunmen opened fire near St. Catherine’s monastery in Egypt on Tuesday (18 April), reports Reuters. The attack, at a police checkpoint less than a kilometre from the monastery, was later claimed by the Islamic State group. It came a week after . . . Read More

Coptic boy, 16, ‘murdered by Islamic extremists seeking to scare Christians’

April 20, 2017 Egypt Copts, El-Arish, Islamic State, Minya, Palm Sunday, Sinai, Upper Egypt

An Egyptian Christian boy murdered on Holy Thursday (13 April) was killed by Islamic extremists hoping to further intimidate Christians in the run up to Easter, say his family. Allam Bashay Gabriel found his 16-year-old son, Gamal, with his throat slit and lying in a pool of blood, in Qai . . . Read More

Copts still homeless months after homes burnt down

March 16, 2017 Egypt Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Kom El-Loufy, Minya, Sinai

Makeshift church in Minya burned down by extremists
Photo: Wataninet

In July last year, four Coptic homes were set on fire in a village 230km south of Cairo, following rumours the Copts planned to turn one of the houses into a church. Eight months later, the Copts – two brothers, Ashraf and Ibrahim Khalaf, and their families – are still . . . Read More

Egyptian Copt widow: ‘Gunmen who killed my husband and son then ticked them off their IS hit-list’

March 2, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Bishop Angaelos, Cairo, Copts, El-Arish, Islamic State, Ismailia, Sinai, Suez

A Coptic Christian mother in North Sinai who saw her son and husband killed in front of her in their home says she then saw the gunman calmly tick off her loved ones from a hit-list he carried. In an exclusive interview with World Watch Monitor, Nabila Fawzi Hanna, 65, . . . Read More

Muslims condemn killings of Copts, as more flee

February 28, 2017 Egypt Al-Nour Party, Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Ismailia, Sinai, Suez

An ultra-conservative Islamic political party in Egypt, Al-Nour, has publicly condemned the killings of Copts in northern Sinai, saying they “go against the teaching of Islam”. The House of Fatwa, chaired by the Grand Mufti of Egypt, also condemned the murders, saying they are “sabotaging” national unity. Coptic families have . . . Read More

Copts flee El-Arish after sixth murder in month

February 24, 2017 Egypt Cairo, Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic State, Mohamed Morsi, Sinai, Suez

Egyptian Christians are beginning to flee Sinai’s largest city, El-Arish, after yet another Copt was killed there, reports Watani. Kamel Youssef, a 40 year old plumber, yesterday (23 Feb) became the latest victim, according to AP, which said militants stormed his home and shot him dead in front of his . . . Read More

‘IS’ kills Coptic father and son in Sinai

February 22, 2017 Egypt Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic State, Sinai

Two more Coptic Christians have been killed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Egyptian security officials said suspected militants were responsible, as AP reports. This comes days after the Islamic State threatened to wipe out Christians from Egypt and following the murder of two other Copts in Sinai. Saad Hana, 65, was . . . Read More

Another Copt killed ‘by Islamic State’ in Sinai

February 16, 2017 Egypt Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Sinai

A Coptic Christian teacher has been killed in the city of El-Arish in Egypt’s North Sinai province, four days after the murder of a Coptic vet. Gamal Tawfiq, 50, was gunned down on his way to school this morning (16 Feb), reports AP. His murder follows that of Bahgat Zakhar . . . Read More

‘Coptic’ vet assassinated ‘by IS affiliates’

February 15, 2017 Egypt Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic State, Sinai

A vet believed to be a Coptic Christian was shot dead in Egypt’s increasingly lawless North Sinai province, according to reports. The state-run newspaper Al-Ahram reported that the man was Coptic and came under heavy fire from unknown assailants as he left his clinic in a suburb of North Sinai’s . . . Read More

Islamic State kills priest in Sinai

July 1, 2016 Egypt Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic State, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Sinai

A Coptic Orthodox priest was shot dead yesterday morning (30 June) in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula by Islamist militants. Fr. Raphael Moussa, 46, was shot four times in the head from a passing taxi as he stood next to his car in Arish, the capital of northern Sinai. The priest was . . . Read More

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