IS claimed responsibility for attack on Egyptian Coptic Christians in Minya
Egyptian authorities say the death toll in the ambush attack on a bus transporting Christians to a monastery south of Cairo has risen to 29, The Associated Press said.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for Friday’s massacre.
Ten assailants wearing fatigues and face masks fired on buses carrying Coptic Christians on a desolate stretch of desert road, Egyptian officials said, AP added.
The Egyptian Cabinet said in a news release that 13 victims of Friday’s attack remain hospitalized in Cairo and the southern city of Minya where the attack took place. Authorities had previously said 28 were killed, AP indicated.
The attack came on the eve of the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It was the fourth to target the country’s Christian minority since December, AP said.
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said that suspected Islamic State group militants attacked the bus and that Egypt had launched airstrikes against what he said were militant training bases in Libya, AP explained.
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