{"id":21055,"date":"2018-11-04T13:22:56","date_gmt":"2018-11-04T13:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=21055"},"modified":"2018-11-04T13:22:56","modified_gmt":"2018-11-04T13:22:56","slug":"egypt-security-forces-kill-19-suspects-linked-to-coptic-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=21055","title":{"rendered":"Egypt security forces kill 19 suspects linked to Coptic attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"body-200771816342556199\" readability=\"117.833729216\">\n<p class=\"speakable\">Egyptian security forces have killed 19 people linked to a deadly attack on Coptic Christians, according to the interior ministry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">The suspects were killed in a gunfight in the desert of Minya province in central <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/topics\/country\/egypt.html\">Egypt<\/a> after security forces pursued them, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\"><span>&#8220;The terrorist elements opened fire on the [security] forces who responded,&#8221; the statement said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Those killed were part of the group that killed seven Coptic Christian pilgrims in the same province on Friday, the ministry said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/topics\/organisations\/isis-isil.html\">ISIL<\/a>, also known as ISIS) group, claimed responsibility for the attack, although it provided no evidence of its involvement.<\/p>\n<p><span>Friday&#8217;s attack was the latest in a string of assaults against the minority Coptic community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Armed men opened fire on buses carrying pilgrims to the Monastery of St Samuel in Minya province, killing seven people and leaving 18 wounded.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2018\/11\/pain-egypt-copts-bury-bus-attack-victims-181103182402563.html\">hundreds gathered<\/a> at the Prince Tadros church in Minya, a city some 260km south of the capital, Cairo, to bury six members of the same family who were shot dead in the attack. Among them were a 15-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl.<\/p>\n<p><span>The seventh victim, an Anglican bus driver, was buried on Friday evening in a village outside Minya.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/topics\/people\/pope-francis.html\">Pope Francis<\/a> said he was pained over the attack on the pilgrims.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I express my pain after the terrorist attack which two days ago hit the Coptic Orthodox church in Egypt,&#8221; Francis said in Saint Peter&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I pray for the victims, pilgrims killed just because they were Christian,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p><span>The Copts are an Orthodox denomination who make up an estimated 10 to 15 percent of Egypt&#8217;s more than 90 million people, although there is no formal religious census to determine an exact number.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>They are the Middle East&#8217;s largest Christian community and have long complained of persecution and insufficient protection.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In December 2017, a gunman killed 11 people at a church and a Christian-owned shop near Cairo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>More than 100 Copts have been killed in such attacks since 2011, according to The Associated Press news agency.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div readability=\"32\">\n<p>\n            SOURCE:<br \/>\n            <span>Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Egyptian security forces have killed 19 people linked to a deadly attack on Coptic Christians, according to the interior ministry. The suspects were killed in a gunfight in the desert of Minya province in central Egypt after security forces pursued them, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. &#8220;The terrorist elements opened fire on&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":21056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}