Islamists suspected of bus attack killed, as Copts mourn

Islamists suspected of bus attack killed, as Copts mourn
Egypt’s interior ministry claimed yesterday to have killed 19 Islamist militants suspected of carrying out the bus attack on Friday that killed seven Copts and injured over a dozen others. The militants were killed in a shootout in the desert area west of Minya governorate, where the attack took place, . . . Read More

Egypt: 21 churches receive long-delayed government approval to build

Egypt: 21 churches receive long-delayed government approval to build
Twenty-one churches in Egypt’s southern rural Minya governorate can restore, expand and rebuild their churches after receiving approval from the Minya Governor. Governor Essam al-Bedeiwi approved the 21 applications over the last six months. Some of the churches had been waiting for more than 20 years for a permit to come . . . Read More

‘Mixed feelings’ for families after IS cameraman reveals where beheaded Copts were buried

‘Mixed feelings’ for families after IS cameraman reveals where beheaded Copts were buried
The families of the 20 Egyptian Christians beheaded on a beach in Libya in 2015 say they have “mixed feelings” after the cameraman who filmed the beheadings reportedly told the authorities where the bodies were buried. Coptic news site Watani spoke to the families of 13 of the murdered Christians, . . . Read More

Al-Azhar says Islam ‘totally incompatible’ with violence, as IS shifts focus to Upper Egypt

Al-Azhar says Islam ‘totally incompatible’ with violence, as IS shifts focus to Upper Egypt
Scholars at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, the pre-eminent seat of Sunni Islamic learning, have submitted a bill to the Egyptian government, which “aims to reaffirm the total incompatibility between the violence justified by religious arguments and Islamic law”. As World Watch Monitor reported on 21 June, Al-Azhar has distanced itself from . . . Read More