Two Egyptian policemen guarding a Coptic
Christian church in Cairo have been shot
dead, witnesses and a local security source
said.
Sources said the policemen were killed on
Tuesday as they stood guard at the church.
Another policeman was killed while trying to
defuse a bomb outside a petrol station in
Cairo, police said.
Egypt's Coptic Christmas falls on Wednesday
and security is typically tightened at churches
ahead of the holiday after a string of attacks
on Christian targets over the past years.
Interior Ministry spokesman Hany Abdel Latif
was quoted by state newspaper Al-Ahram as
saying the attack in Minya was not sectarian.
"[It] has nothing to do with any of the
holidays of our Coptic brothers, it is instead
aimed at the security forces, to try to
undermine their resolve," Latif said.
Egypt's Coptic Christians, who make up about
10 percent of the population of 85 million,
have largely coexisted peacefully with majority
Sunni Muslims for centuries.
But following the army's ousting of President
Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in
July 2013, a number of churches and
Christian properties were burned and
destroyed in the impoverished south that is
home to many Christians.
The Brotherhood said at the time it had
nothing to do with attacks on Christians and
accused the army of cynically using the
minority population to justify a fierce security
crackdown.
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