EGYPT: Eyewitness claims train attacker did not target Copts, state media say
An off-duty police officer who killed one Copt and wounded five others on board a train Tuesday didn't intentionally target Christians, Egypt's state news agency quoted an eyewitness as saying.
"The attacker boarded the train with his face to the passengers' backs, before pulling out his gun, turning and firing randomly without saying anything or seeming to know any of the people he aimed at," Hossam Abd El Aal, who entered the train when it stopped at Samalut station, where the assault occurred, told MENA.
Officials said a 71-year-old Copt was killed and his wife and four other Christians were seriously wounded when Amer Ashour Abdel Zaher fired at passengers heading from the southern city of Assyut to Cairo. According to the Health Ministry, two of the wounded remain in critical condition.
A security official told the Agence France-Presse news agency that Abdel Zaher, who is facing charges of murder, told interrogators that he was "frustrated and irritated" when he carried out the attack, without mentioning if it was religiously driven or not.
The governor of Minya, where Samalut is located, told Egyptian state television that the incident "has to do with Abdel Zaher's mental state and has nothing to do with the religion of his victims."
But earlier on Wednesday, AFP quoted a Samalut priest as saying that he was told by victims that the assailant targeted Copts, picking out people near a group of women not wearing headscarves: "The victims told me that after he was certain, he raised his gun and yelled 'Allahu akbar' or 'God is great,'" a priest identified as Morkos said, according to AFP.
One victim told Al Youm Al Sabee, an Egyptian independent news website, that "the offender yelled 'la ilah illa Allah,' or "there is no god but Allah'" rather than "Allahu akbar."
The incident came less than two weeks after a church bombing that left 25 Coptic worshipers dead and about 80 others injured in the coastal city of Alexandria, an attack that triggered Christians' anger and raised the volatile sectarian problem in Egypt to an unprecedented peak.
On Tuesday, Egypt summoned its ambassador to the Vatican for consultations, following Pope Benedict XVI's calls for increased protection for Christian minorities in the Middle East.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry as well as the Sunni Muslim world's leading institution, Al Azhar, both described the pope's comments as an "unacceptable interference in Egypt's internal affairs."
-- Amro Hassan in Cairo
Photo: A Coptic demonstration after a church bombing in Alexandria. Credit: AFP/Getty Images
Shem on you for choosing that misleading title!
Posted by: Jim | January 15, 2011 at 07:24 PM
I just watched Arabic TV show "Alhakika" aka "The Truth" where TV reporter Wael Alibrashy asked Marian (one of the 6 injured copts) about the reason that drove the policeman to shoot at her and her family, she said the man targeted them because they were Christians. They were the only women in the train wagon who were not wearing Hijab and her Mom was wearing a cross. She said the shooter survied the train wagon back and forth once then stopped at them and started shooting.
Posted by: Hany G. | January 15, 2011 at 11:39 AM
Yes, of course...it is a coincidence just like the one million coincidences that happens everyday. Wake up people!!
Posted by: Eggyptian | January 15, 2011 at 06:34 AM
For anyone reading these comments, remember that these comments are censored by the author of this article to make sure only approved ideas are published.
Posted by: The Searcher | January 14, 2011 at 10:19 AM
This is ridiculous, again the denial of sectarian violence. All human rights groups report that sectarian violence and discrimination is very common and ingrained in society. And in regards to the response to the Pope's comments. When Egypt partakes in International treaties and receives huge amounts of USAID, the international community reserves the right to question whether the international laws required by these treaties and USAID regulations are being upheld. Clearly they are not, and the government is trying to appease the Copts and the international community to stop further investigation and attention into the exponentially expanding issue of sectarian violence.
Posted by: nadia | January 13, 2011 at 10:08 AM
I think that the Pope is right. Egypt should do more to guarantee the safety of its religious minorities.
Since some religious extremist can not contain themselves.
Posted by: geo88a | January 12, 2011 at 04:20 PM
hahah, the eyewitness is a MUSLIM. Of course, if he was a Coptic and his little sister, parents, wife and daughter got shot he would not have said that!! The shooter killed ONLY coptic Christians, given that there are "10%" in a bus of thousands there is little to no chance that 100%%% of the victims will be Copts, just saying!
Posted by: Egyptian Girl | January 12, 2011 at 02:09 PM
So you try to tell me he killed ONLY COPTIC CHRISTIANS... and they werent targeted?!?!?! Let me mention there is about 10 percent Coptics in Egypt. Lets do the math.. if there were 6 people shot as stated in the article. The probability is 1 in a million that all 6 people hit would be all Christian... given the statistic of 10 percent of the population is Christian. IN THE OTHER WORDS!!! GOVERNMENT ONCE AGAIN SAYING HUSH HUSH ON ANOTHER ATTACK ON CHRISTIANS
Posted by: Michael | January 12, 2011 at 12:44 PM