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Police Shot Dead While Guarding Coptic Christian Church in Egypt

Two Egyptian policemen were shot dead by masked men as they guarded a Coptic Christian church in a city south of Cairo.
Image: Coptic Christians walk outside St. Markos Church in Minya, south of Cairo, Egypt, where two policemen guarding the church were shot dead
Coptic Christians walk outside St. Markos Church in Minya, south of Cairo, Egypt, where two policemen guarding the church were shot dead by unknown gunmen on the early hours of Tuesday. (AP Photo/Roger Anis)Roger Anis / AP

MINYA, Egypt - Two Egyptian policemen were shot dead by masked men on Tuesday as they stood guard at a Coptic Christian church in a city south of Cairo, witnesses and a local security source 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 Tuesday's 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."

The country'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.

IN-DEPTH

- Reuters