Gunmen open fire at church wedding, kill 8yr-old girl, others

CAIRO (AFP) – Police on Monday searched for
a gunman who killed three people at a church
wedding, in the first attack targeting Christians
in Cairo since the ouster of Egypt’s Islamist
president.
An eight-year-old girl was among those killed
at the Church of the Virgin in Cairo’s working
class neighbourhood of Al-Warrak, while 18
others were wounded in the late Sunday attack,
officials said.
“There were two men on a motorbike and one
of them opened fire,” as a crowd emerged from
a wedding service, the interior ministry said.
Khaled al-Khatib, a senior official from the
health ministry, confirmed the casualties,
though it was not immediately clear if all three
were Coptic Christians.
Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi condemned the
attack in a cabinet statement, calling it a
“despicable criminal act,” and said security
forces were searching for the assailants.
“Such terrible acts will not succeed in dividing
Muslims and Christians,” he said.
Egyptian Christians, the majority of whom are
Copts, have been targeted since Morsi was
swept out of power by the army amid mass
protests against his year-long rule, and in
particular since an August 14 crackdown by
security forces on two Cairo camps of Morsi
supporters.
Islamists were enraged by the deadly
crackdown and accused Coptic Christians of
backing the coup that toppled Morsi, who hails
from the Muslim Brotherhood and was Egypt’s
first democratically elected president.
This perception was fuelled by the appearance
of Coptic Pope Tawadros II alongside army
chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi when he
announced on television Morsi’s removal from
office.
Muslim leaders and other politicians were also
present.
Rights groups say that Copts, who account for
six to 10 percent of Egypt’s 85 million people,
have come under attack mainly in the
provinces of Minya and Assiut in central Egypt.
Earlier this month London-based Amnesty
International said that more than 200
Christian-owned properties were attacked and
43 churches seriously damaged across the
country since the August 14 crackdown.
In its report Amnesty International blamed
Egyptian security forces for failing to stop
“revenge attacks” against Coptic Christians
after the violent dispersal of the pro-Morsi
camps.
“In light of previous attacks, particularly since
Morsi’s ousting on 3 July, a backlash against
Coptic Christians should have been anticipated,
yet security forces failed to prevent attacks or
intervene to put an end to the violence,” the
rights group said.
The Muslim Brotherhood deplored Sunday’s
attack and blamed it in part on the military-
installed authorities.
“The military-backed authorities continue to
turn a blind eye to deliberate acts of arson,
vandalism and murder,” it said in a statement.
Egypt’s Copts have long complained of
discrimination and marginalisation, particularly
under Morsi’s one-year rule.
Egypt’s new government is engaged in a
widespread crackdown on Islamists, jailing
more than 2,000 since the storming of the pro-
Morsi camps.
Morsi himself is in custody and is to go on trial
November 4 over deadly clashes between his
supporters and opponents outside the
presidential palace in December 2012.
Most of the Brotherhood’s leaders, including its
supreme guide Mohammed Badie, are also in
custody.
An Egyptian court last month banned the
Muslim Brotherhood from operating and seized
its assets.