Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY
P. 10
A10
WORLD NEWSSaturday 30 December 2017
Gunman opens fire on Cairo church; shootout kills at least 9
By MENNA ZAKI A policeman stands guard in front of Mar Mina church, in Helwan, Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 29, the violence broke out.
Associated Press “People were terrified and
CAIRO (AP) — A gunman 2017, where several people have been killed in a shootout outside the church. wanted to check on their
on a motorcycle opened families in other buildings
fire Friday outside a church (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) of the church,” she told The
in a Cairo suburb and at Associated Press by phone.
a nearby store, sparking him Ismail Mostafa, who, out attacks in the main- during an unannounced “We stayed inside for 30
a shootout that killed at minutes before we were
least nine people, includ- the agency said, was in- land. visit there by the defense able to get out.”
ing eight Coptic Christians, Once she was able to
Egyptian authorities said. It volved in several previous The militants are targeting and interior ministers. At leave, Atta said, she saw
was the latest attack tar- blood everywhere.
geting the country’s em- militant attacks. The Interior mainly security personnel least one senior officer was “We kept praying,” said
battled Christian minority. the Rev. Boules, who was
The gunman was also Ministry said he was wound- and Egypt’s Coptic Chris- killed and two wounded in teaching a class in the
killed, along with at least church complex. On hear-
one police officer, officials ed and arrested but made tian minority. that attack, which pointed ing gunfire, he went to
said. check on his students, who
The attack began when no mention of his death, The latest attack, in the to an unusually high level were panicking and terri-
the gunman tried to break fied.
through the security cor- which was reported by the southern Cairo suburb of of intelligence available to Since December 2016,
don outside the Coptic Egypt’s Copts have been
Church of Mar Mina. It Health Ministry. Helwan, showcases the dif- the militants. targeted by the militants,
was not clear how many who waged a series of at-
assailants were involved. The assailant had earlier ficulties faced by security Samir Gerges, a witness to tacks that left more than
Egypt’s Interior Ministry re- 100 dead and scores
ferred to only one, but the opened fire at the nearby forces in containing an in- Friday’s church attack, said wounded. The country
Coptic Orthodox church has been under a state
mentioned “gunmen.” store owned by a Christian, surgency that is growing in people inside the church of emergency since April
Five people were wound- after suicide bombings
ed, including another po- the Interior Ministry said. sophistication and brutal- closed the gates when the struck two Coptic Christian
lice officer, Health Ministry churches on Palm Sunday.
spokesman Khaled Mega- No group took immediate ity. The assault came a little shooting began but that The IS affiliate has claimed
hed said. responsibility for all the
The attack came amid responsibility for the attack, more than a month after some bullets penetrated bombings targeting Chris-
tightened security around tians.
churches and Christian fa- which bore the hallmarks militants killed 311 worship- the building. Gerges said Christians make up about
cilities ahead of the Cop- 10 percent of Egypt’s pop-
tic Orthodox Christian cel- of Islamic militants, who for pers inside a mosque in Si- he was walking along a ulation. They have long
ebrations of Christmas on complained of discrimina-
Jan. 7. Police have been years have battled security nai, the deadliest attack nearby street when the tion in the Muslim-majority
stationed outside church- nation and claim that au-
es and in nearby streets forces in Egypt’s Sinai Pen- by militants on civilians in gunfire broke out. He saw thorities have often failed
across Cairo. President Ab- to protect them from sec-
del-Fattah el-Sissi has per- insula in an insurgency now Egypt’s modern history. people running and some tarian attacks.
sonally chaired meetings Just last week, hundreds
with his top security chiefs led by a local affiliate of Last week, they fired a taking cover in a nearby of Muslim demonstrators
in recent days to discuss stormed an unlicensed
security during New Year’s the extremist Islamic State guided rocket that de- restaurant. church south of Cairo,
Eve and the Orthodox wounding three people. q
Christmas. group. It is centered in the stroyed an army helicop- Another witness, 40-year-
A video circulating on so-
cial media after Friday’s turbulent northern part of ter at the airport of the city old Raouth Atta, was pray-
attack apparently showed
the gunman lying on the Sinai but has also carried of el-Arish in northern Sinai ing inside the church when
ground with his face cov-
ered in blood. Authorities Explosive attack in Colombia nightclub wounds 31 people
closed off the area around
the church. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — ibal Suarez says three wom- the club when the device Their names haven’t been
The Interior Ministry identi- The mayor of a small city en were seriously injured in was thrown from a motor- released to the public.
fied the assailant as Ibra- in northern Colombia says the pre-dawn attack Friday cycle and set off a stam- He says the attack ap-
31 people were wounded at the Bora Bora nightclub. pede among panicked pears to stem from a
when an explosive device Suarez says the rest of the club patrons. battle among local drug
was thrown into a crowded victims suffered only minor The mayor says police ar- gangsters for control of
nightclub. injuries. rested a man and woman the city north of Medellin,
Caucasia Mayor Oscar An- About 70 people were at as suspects in the attack. Colombia.q
