All but one of Minya’s bus attack victims are family

CAIRO – 3 November 2018: All but one of those killed in Minya’s bus terrorist attack were members of the same family, according to a list of the victims’ names released by the church.

At least seven people were announced killed and seven others wounded after the bus was attacked near the monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor.

Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark Diocese asserted on Friday that terror attack on Copts are aggression on all Egyptians.

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 crime is a “desperate attempt” by terrorist groups that proves their weakness, the Egyptian State Information Service (SIS) said in a statement on Friday.

Terrorists are “breathing their last” in Egypt after the astounding success of the Comprehensive Sinai 2018 operation in securing the four sides of the country’s borders and in eradicating terrorist hotspots in North and Central Sinai and elsewhere, the statement added.

The latest of these successes were announced Friday in communiqué 29 issued by the General Command of the Armed Forces, which reported the elimination of 18 terrorists, and the destruction of 25 vehicles used by terrorists to infiltrate from the western border.

Preemptive strikes by forces of the Ministry of interior against terrorists have also resulted in many successes, among which was the liquidation of a terrorist cell (11 terrorists) last week by on Dashlout – Al Farafra Road, the elimination of a terrorist cell (9 terrorists) inside a cave in Sohag governorate and aborting numerous attempted terrorist attacks. These setbacks drove terrorists to resort to desperate measures that went as low as to target innocent worshipers in the most cowardly way,” SIS said.

The latest of these successes were announced Friday in communiqué 29 issued by the General Command of the Armed Forces, which reported the elimination of 18 terrorists, and the destruction of 25 vehicles used by terrorists to infiltrate from the western border.

Preemptive strikes by forces of the Ministry of interior against terrorists have also resulted in many successes, among which was the liquidation of a terrorist cell (11 terrorists) last week by on Dashlout – Al Farafra Road, the elimination of a terrorist cell (9 terrorists) inside a cave in Sohag governorate and aborting numerous attempted terrorist attacks. These setbacks drove terrorists to resort to desperate measures that went as low as to target innocent worshipers in the most cowardly way,” SIS said.