Page 10 - ATODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 13 december 2016
Man suspected in chapel bombing had 2014 run-in with police

MAGGIE MICHAEL client, who was 16 at the
HAMZA HENDAWI time of his arrest, was tor-
Associated Press tured until he confessed
CAIRO (AP) — The young to the possession of weap-
man suspected of blow- ons and explosions. He
ing himself up inside a also faced charges of
Cairo chapel during Sun- membership in an “illegal
day Mass, killing at least 25 organization,” Egyptian
people, had been arrested parlance for the outlawed
and beaten by police two Muslim Brotherhood, the
years ago after allegedly Islamist group of which for-
taking part in an Islamist mer President Mohammed
demonstration, his lawyer Morsi was a senior official.
said Monday. Musafa was released
If independently con- on bail after nearly two
firmed, Mahmoud Shafiq months in detention, and a
Mohammed Mustafa court later convicted him
would be the latest Egyp- in absentia, according to
tian to be radicalized after the lawyer. Traumatized by
being subjected to police the torture, he told his law-
abuse, a practice that was yer not to appeal, fearing
common for decades and he would be abused again
has become rampant af- Coptic Christians protest as policemen stand guard on a street after a funeral service for victims of if detained.
ter an crackdown on dis- a Sunday cathedral bombing, at the Virgin Mary Church, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Dec. 12, 2016. A police photo of Mustafa
sent following the military’s Egypt’s president says a suicide bomber caused the explosion that killed 24 Christians during Sun- and a friend arrested on
day Mass at a Cairo chapel.
2013 ouster of an Islamist (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) the same day showed the
president. pair, clearly in their teens,
Speaking after a state explosives inside a chapel old chapel was packed were injured, according to with bleeding noses and
funeral for the victims, adjacent to St. Mark’s Ca- with worshippers. the latest figures released bruised faces. Placed atop
Egyptian President Abdel- thedral, seat of Egypt’s The dead included more by the Health Ministry. a coffee table in front of
Fattah el-Sissi said the sus- ancient Coptic Orthodox than 20 women and chil- Mahmoud Hassan, one of them was a rifle, ammuni-
pect detonated a belt of Church. The over 100-year- dren. Forty-nine others Musafa’s lawyers, said his tion and what appeared
to be a homemade bomb.
Report:

Lack of transparency cited in IS fight

SINAN SALAHEDDIN coalition are “opaque, ad
Associated Press hoc, and significantly bi-
BAGHDAD (AP) — A re- ased towards internal mili-
port released Monday by tary reporting,” the group
Airwars, a London-based said.
project aimed at tracking The coalition has been re-
the U.S.-led coalition’s air peatedly criticized for the
strikes targeting the Islamic slow pace of investiga-
State group, criticized the tions into civilian casualties
coalition’s lack of transpar- in the fight against IS. The
ency when assessing civil- coalition has carried out
ian casualties. Coalition more than 16,500 airstrikes
airstrikes have been criti- in Iraq and Syria against
cal in the fight against IS in IS targets since the fight
Iraq where Iraqi forces are against the militant group
currently trying to push the was launched more than
militant group out of Mosul. two years ago.
While U.S. officials have ac- In Mosul, Iraqi forces con-
knowledged that 173 civil- tinue a slow advance on
ians have died in coalition the city’s eastern front. Dur-
airstrikes since the launch ing meetings with Iraqi mili-
of the campaign against tary commanders south of
IS in the summer of 2014, Mosul Monday, Iraqi Prime
the Airwars group says the Minister Haider al-Abadi
number of civilian casu- emphasized the operation
alties is much greater: at is being waged in an ef-
least 1,500. fort to reduce casualties
The Airwars project said the among Iraqi troops and ci-
discrepancy in the num- vilians, according to a writ-
bers of acknowledged ci- ten statement released by
vilian casualties is partially his office.
due to how civilian deaths Iraqi forces inside Mosul
are investigated, assess- were more optimistic about
ments carried out by the the pace of the fight.q