Page 9 - ATD 27MAY2017

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WORLD NEWS Saturday 27 May 2017
At least 28 killed in ambush attack on Christians in Egypt

By HAMZA HENDAWI Trump, in Italy on his first
MOHAMMED WAGDY trip abroad as president,
Associated Press blamed the bloodshed on
CAIRO (AP) — Masked a “thuggish ideology” and
gunmen ambushed a bus said it should bring nations
carrying Coptic Christians together to crush “evil or-
to a monastery south of ganizations of terror.”
Cairo on Friday, killing at Senior Egyptian officials
least 28 people, and Egypt said fighter jets targeted
responded by launching bases in eastern Libya of
airstrikes against what it the Shura Council, an Is-
said were militant training lamist militia known to be
bases in Libya. linked to al-Qaida, not the
President Abdel-Fattah el- Islamic State. There was no
Sissi announced the retalia- immediate word on dam-
tory action hours after the age or casualties.
bus was riddled with ma- The bus attack deepens
chine-gun fire on a remote the woes of the majority-
desert road by suspected Muslim nation, where El-
Islamic State militants riding Sissi’s government is strug- This image shows a policeman and a priest next to a bus after stormed the bus in Minya, Egypt,
in three SUVs. gling not only to crush a Friday, May 26, 2017. Egyptian officials say dozens of people were killed and wounded in an at-
“What you’ve seen today burgeoning Islamic insur- tack by masked militants on a bus carrying Coptic Christians, including children, south of Cairo.
will not go unpunished. An gency but to revive the (Minya Governorate Media office via AP)
extremely painful strike has battered economy. the Muslim holy month of astery in Maghagha, about and hijacked a truck travel-
been dealt to the bases. The country’s Christians Ramadan. 220 kilometers (140 miles) ing the same road, killing its
Egypt will never hesitate have complained that the But it bore the hallmarks south of Cairo. The Cop- occupants.
to strike terror bases any- government is not doing of the Islamic State, which tic Orthodox monastery is Arab TV stations showed im-
where,” el-Sissi said in a enough to protect them has been spearheading an reachable only by an un- ages of a bus riddled with
televised address to the from Islamic extremists, and insurgency that has car- paved route that veers off bullet holes, with many of
nation. hundreds of them reacted ried out deadly attacks in the main highway. its windows shattered and
He also appealed to U.S. to the bus attack by stag- Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and, Security and medical of- bloodstains on the seats.
President Donald Trump ing angry street protests in increasingly, on the coun- ficials quoted witnesses as Bodies lay on the ground,
to lead the global war two provincial cities, de- try’s mainland. saying they saw eight to some covered with black
against terror. stroying at least six cars The Interior Ministry said the 10 attackers in military uni- plastic sheets. Children
The ambush of the bus was and briefly cutting off rail- assailants opened fire as forms. They said one of the could be heard scream-
the fourth deadly attack way lines. the bus traveled to the St. assailants’ SUVs got stuck in ing hysterically in the back-
against the country’s Chris- “Either we get retribution Samuel the Confessor mon- the sand, so they torched it ground.
tians since December. The or die like them,” some
dead included two little chanted.
girls, ages 2 and 4, local of- There was no immediate
ficials said. Twenty-two oth- claim of responsibility for
ers were reported wound- the ambush, which came
ed. on the eve of the start of
Turkish committee: US-based

cleric was behind failed coup

By SUZAN FRASER “We have reached infor-
Associated Press mation and documents
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — that leave no space for
The head of a Turkish par- hesitation,” Petek told re-
liamentary investigative porters, adding that the
committee said Friday conclusion about Gulen’s
there was no question that role was based on informa-
U.S.-based Muslim cleric tion that included confes-
Fethullah Gulen was be- sions, details of communi-
hind last year’s failed mili- cations between alleged
tary coup. coup-plotters and witness
The ruling party-dominated accounts.
committee investigating Gulen, 76, a former ally
the July coup attempt had and now foe of President
“concrete and solid” evi- Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
dence pointing to Gulen’s has condemned the coup
involvement, lawmaker attempt and denied he
Resat Petek said. He was was involved. He acknowl-
speaking at a news con- edged that some of his
ference to present the supporters may have par-
findings of a report that is ticipated in the uprising.
expected to be published The legislator called Gulen
after opposition members a “fraudster” who alleg-
lodge their views and pos- edly had been preparing
sible objections. for a takeover for 50 years.