Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 3 November 2018

IS attack on Christian pilgrims in Egypt kills 7

By SAMY MAGDY nearly 30 people dead. It is
HAMZA HENDAWI also the latest by IS to tar-
Associated Press get Christians in churches in
MINYA, Egypt (AP) — Is- Cairo, the Mediterranean
lamic militants on Friday city of Alexandria and Tan-
ambushed three buses car- ta in the Nile Delta north of
rying Christian pilgrims on the capital.
their way to a remote des- Those attacks left at least
ert monastery south of the 100 people dead and led
Egyptian capital of Cairo, to tighter security around
killing seven and wounding Christian places of worship
19, according to the Cop- and Church-linked facili-
tic Orthodox Church and ties. They have also under-
the Interior Ministry. lined the vulnerability of mi-
All but one of those killed nority Christians in a coun-
were members of the same try where many Muslims
family, according to a list of have since the 1970s grown
the victims’ names released religiously conservative.
by the church, which said The Interior Ministry, which
among the dead were a Coptic Christians chant slogans during a protest following an attack on a bus carrying Christian oversees the police, said
boy and a girl, age 15 and pilgrims on their way to a remote desert monastery, in Minya, Egypt, Friday, Nov. 2, 2018. Friday’s attackers used sec-
12 respectively. Associated Press ondary dirt roads to reach
The local Islamic State af- ber of dead and wounded Twitter account that Fri- discuss upcoming projects, the buses carrying the pil-
filiate which spearheads given by the group and the day’s attack was designed with Egypt’s 63-year-old grims, who were near the
militants fighting security church. to harm the “nation’s solid leader taking center stage. monastery at the time of
forces in the Sinai Peninsula The Islamic State has re- fabric” and pledged to “They want to embarrass the attack. Only pilgrims
claimed responsibility for peatedly vowed to go continue fighting terrorism. el-Sissi and show that the have been allowed on the
the attack in a statement, after Egypt’s Christians as He later offered his con- state is unable to protect main road leading to the
according to SITE, a U.S.- punishment for their sup- dolences when he spoke the Copts,” said Fr. Begemy monastery since last year’s
based group that monitors port of President Abdel-Fat- by telephone with Pope Naseem Nasr, the priest of attack.
and translates militants’ tah el-Sissi. As defense min- Tawadros II, spiritual leader the church of Saint Mary in The Interior Ministry main-
statements. It said the at- ister, el-Sissi led the military’s of Egypt’s Orthodox Chris- Minya. “Egypt is the target tained that only one bus
tack was revenge for the 2013 ouster of an Islamist tians and a close el-Sissi here and we all know that.” was attacked, but the
imprisonment by Egyptian president, whose one-year ally. Friday’s attack is the sec- latest statement by the
authorities of “our chaste rule proved divisive. It has The attack is likely to cast ond to target pilgrims church said three buses
sisters.” It did not elaborate. claimed responsibility for a a dark shadow on one heading to the St. Samuel were targeted and put
It said the attack left 13 string of deadly attacks on of el-Sissi’s showpieces — the Confessor monastery the death toll at 7 and the
Christians killed and anoth- Christians dating back to the World Youth Forum in as many years, indicat- wounded at 19, including
er 18 wounded, but it was December 2016. — which opens Saturday ing that security measures two in critical condition.
not immediately possible El-Sissi, who has made the in the Red Sea resort of in place since then are ei- The Interior Ministry said
to independently verify economy and security his Sharm el-Sheikh and hopes ther inadequate or have police were pursuing the
the claim or reconcile the top priorities since taking to draw thousands of lo- become lax. The previous attackers, who fled the
discrepancy in the num- office in 2014, wrote on his cal and foreign youth to attack in May 2017 left scene.q

Pakistan’s ‘father of Taliban’ cleric killed in knife attack

By MUNIR AHMED of Haq’s supporters rioted, designated terrorist orga-
RIAZ KHAN damaging shops and ve- nization, was one of doz-
Associated Press hicles in Islamabad and ens of Taliban leaders who
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Promi- Rawalpindi. Haq’s family graduated from Haq’s
nent Pakistani cleric Maula- appealed to his followers seminary, located in the
na Samiul Haq, also known to remain peaceful. conservative Khyber Pukh-
as the “father of the Tal- A well-known religious tunkhwa province on the
iban,” was killed in a knife scholar with a large follow- border with Afghanistan.
attack at his home in the ing among radical Islamists, In recent weeks, dozens
garrison city of Rawalpindi Haq was the head of his of Afghan clerics had ap-
on Friday, his family and faction of the Jamiat-e- pealed to Haq to use his in-
police said. Ulema Islam (JUI) party. fluence with Afghanistan’s
Haq’s son, Hamidul Haq, Haq was a revered teach- Taliban to plot a path to
said his father was alone in er with vast influence over peace that would end the
his bedroom when he was In this Feb.15, 2014, file photo, Pakistani religious cleric Samiul Pakistan and Afghanistan’s 17-year-long war there.
attacked by an assailant, Haq, left, talks with Syed Munawar Hasan, the head of the Taliban, many of whose Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi
who escaped undetected. Jamaat-e-Islami party, during a press conference in Lahore, leaders and commanders and Prime Minister Imran
“My father has been mar- Pakistan. studied a strict interpreta- Khan condemned Haq’s
tyred. He was alone at his Associated Press tion of Islam at his Haqqani killing.
home. His guard had gone ers. man, told The Associated seminary, earning him the “We lost a great scholar
out minutes before the at- Police say Haq, 81, was Press that neither the at- “father of the Taliban” title. and religious leader to-
tack and upon his return taken to a nearby hospital, tacker nor their motive was Sirajuddin Haqqani, the day,” said Khan in a state-
he saw my father in critical where he died. yet known. deputy leader of the ment from China where he
condition,” he told report- Yousaf Shah, Haq’s spokes- Soon after his death, scores Haqqani network, a U.S.- is on an official visit. q