Research team formed to seize gunmen involved in Minya’s attack

CAIRO – 3 November 2018: A specialized research team was formed to seize the gunmen, who targeted on Nov. 2 a bus carrying Copts returning from the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor in Minya, a security source revealed.

The Gunmen opened fire on Friday, Nov. 2 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.

“Those cowards, who do not belong to any religion, chose this time as the whole world focuses on Egypt and its World Youth Forum in 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 and stability.

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 Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack; the Islamic State, along with other affiliated groups, previously claimed responsibility for several attacks 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 a speedy recovery.