Nineteen Islamist militants accused of carrying out a deadly attack on Christians in Egypt have been killed by police, the interior ministry says.
They died in a shoot-out after police pursued “fugitive terrorist elements” into the desert area west of Minya province, the statement said.
Seven Coptic Christians were killed in an attack on two buses near a monastery in Minya on Friday.
The Islamic State (IS) group has said it carried out the attack.
However, the militants gave no evidence to back their claim.
It was the latest in a series by extremists on Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority.
The statement by the ministry said the suspects were found “as part of a pursuit of terrorist elements involved in carrying out hostile operations in the country, including the last armed attack which targeted citizens returning from the Saint Samuel monastery”.
“The terrorist elements opened fire on the (security) forces who responded,” the statement went on, although it did not specify exactly when the firefight happened.
Friday’s attack on two buses near the Monastery of St Samuel the Confessor in Minya also left at least seven other people wounded, including children, according to reports.
Funerals were held for the victims on Friday and Saturday, with many mourners expressing their anger and frustration at the attacks on their community.
“What do these terrorists want? Do they want us to hate Muslims?” said Michel, 23, who lost a neighbour in the attack.
The Copts, who make up most of the Christian minority, have in the past accused the authorities in Muslim-majority Egypt of making only token gestures to protect them from such attacks.
One at the same spot left 28 dead in May 2017.
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Source: BBC
