Copts in solidarity with nation against terror, flock to bury Minya’s victims

CAIRO – 3 November 2018: Thousands of mourners flocked on Saturday to bury the victims of the terrorist attack that targeted a bus carrying Copts while returning from the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor in Minya.

The prayers, held at a Minya church, were attended by several priests, mourners, security and municipal officials in the Upper Egyptian governorate as well as the victims’ families.

Gunmen opened fire on Friday on two buses near the Monastery of St. Samuel in Minya, 260 km (160 miles) up the River Nile from Cairo, killing seven people and wounding 18 others, including children.

Egypt Today had the chance to talk with a number of Copts from Upper Egypt, who were shocked after the attack.

Shenouda Abdul Mala, a Copt from Minya, told Egypt Today that this accident will not undermine the trust of Copts in the state that is exerting great efforts to combat terrorism.

"The fabric of the nation is stronger than these vile blows," said Boutros Gabriel of Assyut, the largest governorate of Upper Egypt.

Gabriel said "it is a message to President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to continue the war on terrorism and to strike with an iron fist to cut all evil heads.”

“Those cowards, who do not belong to any religion, chose this time as the whole world focuses its attention on Egypt and its World Youth Forum at Sharm el-Sheikh,” Samuel Hanna from Fayoum, a city in Middle Egypt, told Egypt Today, emphasizing that terrorists do not target Copts, but target Egypt’s security to hit tourism for one.

A Coptic woman from Upper Egypt said “the blood of our children is not more precious than the blood of the officers who are killed defending us in Sinai.”

The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, which, along with affiliated groups, has said it was responsible for several on Egypt's Christian minority, including one that killed 28 people in almost the same spot in May 2017.

The WYF strongly condemned the terrorist attack. The forum emphasized its full support for Egypt and all its measures to combat terrorism that targets the country's security and stability. The forum wished the wounded speedy recovery.