You have commented 358 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Africa North
Egypt prosecutor-general refers 11 to criminal court over 2017 terror attack on Helwan Church
2018-12-02
[AlAhram] Egypt’s Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadek referred on Saturday 11 individuals to criminal court for carrying out an attack on a church in south Cairo in December 2017, which killed nine Copts and a policeman ahead of Coptic Christian Christmas celebrations last year.

In an official statement, the prosecution charged the defendants with "establishing and leading a Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
 group, funding its members, and killing nine Christians and a policeman, and the attempted murder of another."

Security forces rubbed out one of the attackers
...the bearded dude in a suicide vest...
in an exchange of fire outside the church of Mar Mina,
... sometimes referred to as Saint Mina Coptic church in the district of Helwan...
while another assailant was tossed in the slammer
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
The charges listed by the prosecution also include resisting police by force and violence, as well as manufacturing and possessing an bomb to be used to endanger people’s lives.

It also charged the defendants with seeking to join the terrorist group ISIS abroad to carry out terror acts in Egypt, as well as using websites to exchange messages and assignments to execute the terrorist activities.

The prosecution identified the leader of the group as Ibrahim Ismail Mostafa,
...he was the one who was shot while trying to get through the police guard on a motorcycle, carrying a bomb, machinegun, and ammunition after killing two at a nearby shop. He’s been described as “an active terrorist who has carried out a number of terrorist attacks targeting police and civilians since 2016,” suggesting a thick file at police headquarters...
currently in jug, as well as ten others.
...which suggests the others are not, at the moment, in police custody.
The attack in December 2017 came nearly a week ahead of preparations by Copts, who make up 10-15 percent of Egypt's 104 million population, to celebrate Christmas on 7 January.
Posted by:trailing wife

00:00