Clash outside Coptic church in Cairo leaves at least 9 dead

CAIRO — A gunman clashed with police outside a Coptic church in Cairo on Friday after trying to break through security barriers protecting the site. At least nine people were killed, an official said, in the latest violence targeting Egypt’s Christian minority.

Egyptian authorities identified the gunman a 33-year-old Ibrahim Ismail. A statement by the Ministry of Interior said that Ismail had “attempted to attack another church near to the Mar Mina church, but he failed and ended up shooting two people in a shop next to it”.

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He then proceeded to attack the Mar Mina church, leaving 9 killed, “before security forces wounded and arrested him, confiscating his weapon,” the ministry’s statement read.

Ismail is suspected to have links to several past attacks, including one by a group that opened fire on a police bus last year in Cairo. At least eight policemen were killed in the May 2016 attack.

The Islamic State claimed responsibilty for Friday’s assualt.

The spokesman for Egypt’s Health Ministry, Khaled Megahed, said eight Coptic Christians and a policeman were killed in the attack, the Associated Press reported. At least five people were wounded, Megahed said.

The attack began when gunmen on a motorcycle begin firing outside the Mar Mina church in the Helwan neighborhood south of central Cairo, while some worshipers were inside.

Egypt’s state-run Middle East News Agency, citing the Interior Ministry, initially reported at least two attackers tried to enter the church. The second attacker apparently fled, the agency reported.

A video posted on social media purports to show Ismail roaming a deserted street before being dropped by gunfire. A man is seen later sneaking up to him from the back, snatching his weapon. Dozens of people then rush out from hiding to tackle and beat the fallen gunman.

Egypt’s Coptic community had come under increasing attacks from Islamist militants in recent years, prompting tighter security measures around churches and other sites.

After Friday’s bloodshed, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi condemned the assault as “vicious.” A statement from Egypt’s parliament said the “bullets of terrorists did not differentiate between a Muslim and a Christian, or between a mosque and a church.”

In May, gunmen ambushed a bus carrying a group of Coptic Christians to a monastery in the Minya region, about 150 miles south of Cairo, killing at least 30 people.

Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that Ibrahim Ismail, the suspected gunman, had been killed.

Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more:

Christians flee Sinai Peninsula in fear of Egypt’s Islamic State affiliate

Egypt’s long, bloody fight against the Islamic State in Sinai is going nowhere

Coptic Christians describe bus attack: ‘Even the little children were targets’

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