Egypt Attack: Army Retaliates As Death Toll Rises
Egyptian forces have attacked a jihadist training camps in Libya in retaliation to the violent attack on Egyptian Coptic Christians in Cairo on Friday afternoon.
The ambush attack on the Coptic Christians happened on Friday afternoon, when a bus carrying the people was attacked by masked men.
The bus was en route to a monastery in Cairo when the attack happened.
The attackers reportedly stormed the bus with guns and opened fire. Some survivors of the attack said that they masked men had first asked the women on the bus to give them their jewellery, after which they ordered most of the men off the bus.
One survivor said that the attackers told the men outside the bus that if they were to convert to Islam, their life would be spared. All of the men refused, and were killed outside of the bus.
Inside the bus, the attackers reportedly started shooting at random, killing men, women and children.
One of the youngest survivors, a 6-year-old boy, said that his mother had pushed him under a seat of the bus and covered him with her bag in order to hide him from the attackers.
It is believed many women tried to shield their children from the gunfire in a similar way.
The death toll of the attack has since risen to 29 and some reports suggest that at least 13 people are currently being treated in a hospital in Cairo.
Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has strongly condemned the attack, and immediately launched a military offensive against jihadist training camps.
In a televised address to the nation, el-Sisi said that Egypt will do whatever it takes to protect its people from “evil”.
He also announced that the Egyptian military had launched airstrikes in Libya.
“Before we spoke to you today, we launched a strike against one of the camp…Egypt will not hesitate in striking terror camps anywhere, either inside [the country] or outside it [sic],” he said in his address.
el-Sisi also addressed US president, Donald Trump, whom he had just met with last week, saying that he hopes Trump will follow through in his promise to help Egypt fight terrorism.
“You have said that your priority is to confront terrorism, and I trust you are capable of doing that” he said.
This recent attack is the fourth attack on Egypt’s Christian minority since December 2016. Other reports have confirmed that the Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
