ISIS claim responsibility for deadly attack on Coptic Christians which left 28 dead
ISIS have claimed responsibility for a gunman’s deadly attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt, which left at least 28 people dead.
By BELINDA ROBINSON
Express.co.uk
Sat, May 27, 2017
The gunman opened fire on at least 50 Coptic Christians travelling to the monastery of St Samuel near Minya, 150 miles from Cairo on Friday.
At least 28 Christians were killed and a further 24 were wounded, according to officials.
But in an act of retaliation, Egyptian fighter jets carried out strikes on Friday directed at camps in Libya which Cairo says have been training militants who killed dozens of Christians earlier in the day.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said he had ordered strikes against what he called terrorist camps, declaring in a televised address that states that sponsored terrorism would be punished.
Egyptian military sources said six strikes took place near Derna in eastern Libya at around sundown, hours after masked gunmen attacked the group of Coptic Christians.
Mr Sisi said: “The terrorist incident that took place today will not pass unnoticed. We are currently targeting the camps where the terrorists are trained.”
According to eyewitnesses, masked men opened fire after stopping the Christians, who were in a bus and other vehicles on a desert road. Local TV channels showed a bus apparently raked by gunfire and smeared with blood.
Clothes and shoes could be seen lying in and around the bus, while the bodies of some of the victims lay in the sand nearby, covered with black sheets.
Eyewitnesses said three vehicles were attacked. First to be hit was a vehicle taking children to the monastery as part of a church-organised trip, and another vehicle taking families there.
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