Free Republic

The streams of blood from defenseless Copts massacred by Islamist extremists continue to drench Egypt--with no end in sight. Three more Coptic were found dead in a span of eight days from the last week of June to the first week of July, with a fourth victim killed in late May, World Watch Monitor reported. Even as the Coptic Orthodox Church held another memorial service on July 3 commemorating 40 days since the bus attack in Minya that killed 29 Copts on Ascension Day, hopes for an end to the sectarian killings remain dim. Although the Coptic community has remained...

SAN DIEGO, May 25 (UPI) -- An Internet investment adviser charged with insider trading was being held without bail on a parole violation Saturday after federal prosecutors in San Diego raised questions about a stock-sales order he placed the day before the September terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Amir "Anthony" Elgindy, 34, of Encinitas, faces charges in New York of allegedly taking part in a stock manipulation and extortion scheme with four other people, including two current and former FBI agents. Prosecutors, however, raised questions during a detention hearing Friday about what he might have known...

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues to maintain his deep belief that multiculturalism is the key to achieving security and stability in the West and to stopping terrorism. In a statement condemning Friday's attack in Egypt which targeted Coptic Christians, the third attack against Copts in recent months, Trudeau said, “As recent events show, violent extremists often target those most vulnerable. As members of the international community, we must continue to stand against those responsible for these acts of terrorism and counter hate by promoting the values of diversity, inclusion and peace.” […] Since being elected, Trudeau has taken the...

As more and more details emerge concerning Friday’s Ramadan attack on a busload of Christians on pilgrimage, the more it becomes evident that these 29 martyrs died solely because they were Christians. Survivors of the attack said that the ten masked Islamic State militants did not merely open fire on the bus full of Christian pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confesor, but that the victims were made to descend from the bus and asked one by one whether they were Christians before being shot by the assailants. According to one of the chaplains of...

Egyptian fighter jets have struck militant camps following the deadly attack on Egypt’s Coptic Christians, President Abdel Fattah Sisi has announced. The strikes were carried out in eastern Libya, state television said.Egypt’s president also vowed to continue striking bases used to train militants and who carry out terrorist attacks in his country, regardless of the camps' location.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV4jfKiaSsk  

Ten masked gunmen, who used machine guns, opened fire at two buses carrying Egyptian Coptic Christians to a monastery south of Cairo on Friday, killing 26 including children and injuring 26 others, Al Arabiya News Channel reported. The Christian group was travelling in two buses and a truck through the province, which is home to a sizeable Christian minority, the governor of Egypt’s Minya province, Essam al-Bedaiwy, said. The health ministry said there were between eight and 10 attackers dressed in military uniforms, according to witnesses. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which came on the eve of...

As the Palm Sunday bombing of two Coptic churches in Egypt demonstrated, even in the least oppressive Muslim nations, native Christian populations are under a great deal of pressure. It is a difficult problem as the Papacy is terrified of angering Muslim governments by criticizing the discrimination against and abuse of Middle Eastern Christian communities thereby making the situation worse, and Western governments have little to no interest in intervening in domestic pogroms when they perceive they have bigger fish to fry.While relations between the Copts and Mubarak were never really great, they cratered when the Muslim Brotherhood gained control...

A former Obama administration official at the Department of Homeland Security said Sunday that when it comes to the Islamic State slaughtering Egyptian Christians, “what goes around, comes around.” In a tweet posted Sunday, Mohamed Elibiary, who formerly served as senior member of the DHS’ Homeland Security Advisory Council, stated, “Reading ISIS’s latest mag ‘otherizing’ Egypt’s Copts. Subhanallah how what goes around comes around. Coptic ldrs did same to MB Egyptians.” “Subhanallah” is Arabic for “Glory to Allah,” and so in this tweet, Elibiary is expressing praise to Allah for the fact that ISIS is killing Egyptian Christians as apparent...

Fr Rafic Greiche describes the situation in the country as "calm". Christians "are not intimidated" and flock to church. Liturgical services continue, but other events have been cancelled. The victims are remembered. Western Christians are asked to visit as pilgrims and tourists. The attacker in Tanta has been identified. Al-Sisi reiterates commitment to the anti-terror struggle.Cairo (AsiaNews) – Holy Week in Egypt has been marred by attacks against the country’s Coptic community. The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the bombings in Tanta and Alexandria. Some 45 people were killed and hundreds wounded. Yet, the “situation is calm for...

The Islamic State doesn’t overthink things, but there is a group that is particularly bothersome for them: the Copts. The two videos of executions in Libya have shown the death of Copts: first, Egyptian Copts in February, and now, Ethiopian Copts in April. The Copts are a tiny Christian minority in the Near East. They are martyrs: they die for their faith. They traditionally tattoo a cross on their wrist. They are an example of how, in Muslim-majority countries, it is possible for Christians and Muslims to live side by side. That’s why ISIS kills them. They are troublesome. I...

Who are these sisters and brothers suffering persecution for Christ?  From the Aleteia archives:  With the news of the terrible bombing during Divine Liturgy in a Coptic Orthodox church in Cairo, December 11, 2016, attention is being drawn again to the sufferings of Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East. Who are these Coptic Christians? What do we share with them?1. The Coptic Church is among the oldest Christian communities in the world.Coptic Christians trace the founding of their church to a missionary journey by the evangelist St. Mark in the year 42. According to tradition, Mark spent his...

Dozens of worshippers were killed or wounded when bombs were detonated at two Egyptian churches earlier today. The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency quickly claimed credit for the attacks, saying that a “covert cell” had struck churches in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria. The first bomb was detonated at Saint George church in Tanta and the second at Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria. Pope Tawadros II, who heads the Coptic Orthodox Church, was reportedly in attendance at Saint Mark’s either shortly before or after the jihadists struck. Initial casualty reports say that at least 37 people were killed and...

An explosion on Sunday morning at the Mar Girgis Coptic church in the central Delta city of Tanta has left at least 21 dead and over 40 people injured, according to officials. Worshippers were celebrating Palm Sunday.

Officials said that Pope Tawadros II was inside at the time of attack but was not harmed. According to the Associated Press, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Sunday for the attacks. Pope Francis reacted to the news during his Sunday address. “May the Lord convert the hearts of those who sow fear, violence and terror,” Pope Francis said after celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Square, reading from a note handed to him, to which he added: “And that of those who produce and sell weapons.”

The ISIS terror group has claimed responsibility for two separate Palm Sunday bombing attacks at Coptic Christian churches in Egypt that have killed 37 people and injured more than 100. The first blast happened at St. George church in the Nile Delta town of Tanta, where at least 26 people were killed and 71 others wounded, officials said. Television footage showed the inside of the church, where a large number of people gathered around what appeared to be lifeless, bloody bodies covered with papers. A second explosion was later reported at St. Mark's Cathedral in the coastal city of Alexandria,...

Deadly blast hits church in Egyptian city of Tanta

Pope Francis will make a trip to Egypt next month, the Vatican said on Saturday, giving the pontiff another opportunity to promote better relations between Catholics and Muslims. Francis has accepted an invitation to Cairo on April 28-29 from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Catholic bishops, the pope of the Coptic church of Alexandria and the country’s highest Islamic authority, Al-Azhar, the Vatican said in a statement. Christians, mostly Orthodox Copts, account for about 10 percent of Egypt’s population, which is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. Sectarian violence sometimes erupts over disputes on issues related to church building, religious conversions and interfaith relationships....

A priest says 1,000 Christians have fled, with some receiving threats on their mobile phones Hundreds of Christians have fled the city of el-Arish in Egypt after a spate of attacks by suspected Islamic militants. A priest told the Associated Press that he and some 1,000 other Christians had fled for fear of being targeted next. He blamed lax security, saying: “You feel like this is all meant to force us to leave our homes. We became like refugees.” It was earlier reported that militants had shot dead a Coptic Christian man, Kamel Youssef, in front of his wife and...

A Coptic Christian man was shot in the head while his son was burned alive in El-Arish, North Sinai, just days after Islamic State-affiliates called believers their "favorite prey." Al-Ahram reports that the father, 65-year-old Saad Hana, and his son, 45-year-old Medhat, were found by Egyptian security officials on Wednesday. Authorities told The Associated Press that the father was shot in the head, while the son appeared to have been abducted and burned alive.

Islamic State published a video on Sunday threatening Egyptian Christians and showing the last statement of a man it said was responsible for the deadly bombing in December of a Coptic cathedral in Cairo. The masked man in battle-dress, whom the group identified as Abu Abdallah al-Masri, is seen encouraging militants all over the world not to give up and promising Islamists jailed in Egypt they will be freed soon, when the group "liberates" Cairo. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had already identified the bomber as a 22-year-old student called Mahmoud Shafik, and it is believed Abu Abdallah al-Masri was his...