The Egyptian Government said police have killed 19 Islamist militants accused of Friday’s attack on Coptic Christians in a shoot-out.
In a statement, the Interior Ministry was reported as saying that police had pursued the “fugitive terrorist elements” into a desert area west of the Minya province and exchanged fire, killing 19.
The news came as hundreds of mourners attended funerals which were held for the seven Coptic Christians killed during an attack on buses which had been travelling to a monastery in Minya province after attending a baptism. A number of other people were reportedly injured in the attack which the so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for.
The attack was the latest in a series of attacks on Coptic Christians and occurred in almost the same place as a May, 2017, attack which left 28 dead.
