Gunmen kill 26 in attack on Christians in Egypt

Gunmen attacked buses and a truck taking a group of Coptic Christians to a monastery in southern Egypt on Friday, killing 26 people and wounding 25 others, witnesses and the Health Ministry said.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said the unidentified gunmen had arrived in three four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Eyewitnesses said masked men stopped the two buses and a truck and opened fire on a road leading to the monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor in Minya province, which is home to a sizeable Christian minority.

Security forces launched a hunt for the attackers, setting up dozens of checkpoints and patrols on the desert road.

The grand imam of al-Azhar, Egypt's 1,000-year-old center of Islamic learning, said the attack was intended to destabilize the country.

"I call on Egyptians to unite in the face of this brutal terrorism," Ahmed al-Tayeb said from Germany, where he was on a visit.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called a meeting of security officials, the state news agency said. The Health Ministry put the toll at 26 dead and 25 wounded.

Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 92 million, have been the subject of a series of deadly attacks in recent months.

About 70 have been killed since December in bomb attacks on churches in the cities of Cairo, Alexandria and Tanta.

Those attacks were claimed by Islamic State. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's attack.

(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein, Omar Fahmy and Mohamed Abdellah; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Louise Ireland and Gareth Jones)

News
Robert Prevost elected Pope Leo XIV, becomes first American pontiff
Robert Prevost elected Pope Leo XIV, becomes first American pontiff

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of the United States was elected the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday, taking the name Pope Leo XIV and becoming the first American to hold the papacy.

More people are going to church than before the pandemic
More people are going to church than before the pandemic

Evangelical churches up and down the country are reporting an increase in the number of people exploring faith and finding Jesus.

Dean of Coventry travels to Berlin for joint VE Day commemoration
Dean of Coventry travels to Berlin for joint VE Day commemoration

The Dean of Coventry, the Very Rev John Witcombe, journeyed to Berlin this week to take part in a national service of remembrance for the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day. 

Churches unite in celebration of VE Day 80th Anniversary
Churches unite in celebration of VE Day 80th Anniversary

Churches throughout England are marking the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day with nationwide commemorative events on Thursday.