Battle Rages as Muslims, Christians set homes ablaze in Egypt
Pastor Dale Morgan
Battle Rages as Muslims, Christians set homes ablaze in Egypt*
Reuters - Sunday, January 10
CAIRO - Muslims and Christians set fire to each others' homes and shops
near the southern Egyptian town of Nagaa Hamady on Saturday, three days
after a gunman killed six Coptic Christians in a drive-by shooting,
security sources said.
"Four houses and a shop belonging to Christians in the village of Tiraks
were set on fire by Muslims, while four shops owned by Muslims in the
village of al-Bahgorah were set on fire by Christians," a security
source said. The villages are near Nagaa Hamady.
Six people, Christian and Muslim, were injured in the fires, they added.
Police have taken 46 statements from Muslims and Christians in the area
accusing members of the other faith of attacking their houses and
damaging their properties, the sources said.
The drive-by shootings in Nagaa Hamady took place around midnight on
Coptic Christmas Eve on Wednesday night. Muslim and Christian groups
held separate protests on Thursday and Friday.
The source said police had detained about 25 of the 2,000 protesters.
Security sources named three Muslims, who have since surrendered to
police, as the suspected gunmen. They first fired on a crowd in a
shopping area near a church in Nagaa Hamady, killing two Christians.
They then went to the nearby church and shot five more, including the
church's Muslim guard. Another nine Christians were wounded.
Police investigators in the city 60 km north of the tourist and
archaeological centre of Luxor, said two of the three assailants were
distantly related to a Muslim girl allegedly raped by a Christian more
than a month earlier.
Egypt's government said the violence was not sectarian and was an
isolated incident.
Christians account for about 10 percent of Egypt's predominantly Muslim
population of about 78 million. Sectarian violence is rare, but disputes
over issues including land or women occasionally erupt.