Four Copts killed in Cairo drive-by shooting Four Coptic Christians were killed on Wednesday when two men on a motorbike fired shots at a jewellery shop in the Egyptian capital where they worked, a security official told AFP.
The drive-by shooting happened at around 12:30 pm (0930 GMT) in the mixed Christian-Muslim district of Zeitoun in northeast Cairo , the official said, adding that the attackers escaped without stealing anything from the shop.
There was no immediate indication that the killing was sectarian.
Police swiftly cordoned off the area, the official said.
Cairo's Zeitoun district is a famed pilgrimage site where, according to witness acounts, the Virgin Mary appeared above the Church of Saint Mary over a period of several years in the late 1960s.
The apparitions were seen by millions including Copts, Muslims, Jews and atheists.
Egypt's Copts -- the largest Christian community in the Middle East -- account for an estimated six to 10 percent of the country's 76 million inhabitants and complain of systematic discrimination and harassment.
Tensions often run high between Egypt's Muslim and Christian communities in an increasingly religious society dominated by Sunni Muslims.
posted
I didn't even know there were Christian and Muslim jewelry-shops... El Zayton isn't an expensive area...so, a bit strange event...
-------------------- “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.” Posts: 7202 | From: EU | Registered: Nov 2006
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posted
I don't undersand. They were targeted specifically for being copts, or for another reason? Did the Police find out?
Posts: 4446 | From: Egyptian in Sydney | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
It's not clear as of now. One article stated that the owner and three employees got killed and also that 9 other people got wounded.
It's such a horrible story. I am still shocked that something like that happened in Cairo. Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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Egypt's police have launched a large-scale manhunt for two men thought to be behind shooting dead four people after raiding a Christian jeweller's shop in northeast Cairo on Wednesday, security sources close to the case said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Public Prosecutor Abdul Meguid Mahmoud said initial investigations indicated that the attack had “no terror or sectarian motives”.Eyewitnesses told the police that two masked men had sprayed the Cleopatra shop in the Zaitoun district , northeast of Cairo, with bullets from automatic rifles and then escaped on a get away black motorcycle that carried no number plates.Four men died instantly and two others sustained serious gunshot wounds after the attackers opened fire at the shop at 2:00pm on Wednesday, the sources said, confirming that the shop's items were intact and not a single piece of jewellery was missing.The victims were the shop's owner, named as Makram Gamil, 60, and one of his staff, named as Makram Saleeb, 22, both of them Christians. The names and identities of the other two dead persons were being established by the police.Mohamed Nofal, an eyewitness, said that the two gunmen were carrying Uzi-like sub-machine guns, and had dark complexion.“The gunmen were tawny and looked like people from Upper Egypt,” Nofal said, insisting that the assailants looked very perplexed after running out of the shop before speeding off the scene on the motorcycle.“The two men were shooting in the air to frighten the passers-by and prevent them from trying to arrest or stop them,” Nofal, the owner of an adjacent barber shop, told the police.“I believe that the two attackers came from the Upper Egyptian Governorate of Sohag because of their dark complexion and they did not want to rob the shop. They were seeking to take revenge on the owner, who also came from Sohag and opened his shop in 1983,” Nofal added . “Late Gamil was a decent man who kept to himself and never made any trouble with anyone,” Nofal said.Zakaria Wageeh, a bedridden shop assistant with a gunshot wound in his right thigh, told the police that the attackers were dressed in women's clothes, long wigs and sunglasses and pretended to be customers seeking to buy some jewellery items.“The two women entered the shop and after we began welcoming them, they started shooting us. When we started to scream at the sight of their shooting, they dashed of the shop, hoping to blend in with the crowds of passers-by,” Wageeh told the police.“Our screams forced the two men to flee. One of them lost his wig in the process,” he added.However, many witnesses refuted Wageeh's story, saying that the two attackers were wearing ordinary men's clothes.Nadia Ahmed, a female eyewitness, told the police that she tried to chase the attackers with her car, but she lost them because they drove into a narrow lane in Zaitoun and disappeared.Meanwhile, Hani Aziz, a spokesman for Egypt's Coptic Church, ruled out yesterday that the attack was a hate crime against Christians, or linked to any sort of sectarian violence against Egyptian Copts.Police confirmed Aziz' view and said that they believed that the motive for the murder was either revenge or robbery.
posted
i don't believe this exploination. Christians and Muslims are living there together, for ages.
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posted
It wasn't a robbery; otherwise jewelry was missing. These guys were hitmen and specifically ordered to kill most likely the owner - the other dead victims were just at the wrong time at the wrong place, unfortunately.
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Tigerlily: Ashraf Sadek Staff reporter
“I believe that the two attackers came from the Upper Egyptian Governorate of Sohag because of their dark complexion and they did not want to rob the shop. They were seeking to take revenge on the owner, who also came from Sohag and opened his shop in 1983,” Nofal added .
quote:Originally posted by Tigerlily: It wasn't a robbery; otherwise jewelry was missing. These guys were hitmen and specifically ordered to kill most likely the owner - the other dead victims were just at the wrong time at the wrong place, unfortunately.
But the fact that it's not a robbery doesn't mean that it's immediatly because they are copts. I am really curious why this happened. But the problem is that in Egypt we will NEVER find out. The government always tries to hush things with religous sensitivties. In fact, they hush everything up. It's impossible to know anything over there.
I didn't realise the anger the copts felt towards the Muslim Egyptians until I came here. There'a serious underlying issue here that needs to be addressed. I am sick of Egyptians saying that it's "3eib" to talk about these things. If the copts are being mistreated then we need to talk about it. We should give them a safe platform to come out and discuss the issues they face in the country. And that way we can do something about it, and live together in peace. A problem like that cannot be just swept under the carpet. Oh well, I guess it's just business as usual in Egypt Posts: 4446 | From: Egyptian in Sydney | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Tigerlily: It wasn't a robbery; otherwise jewelry was missing. These guys were hitmen and specifically ordered to kill most likely the owner - the other dead victims were just at the wrong time at the wrong place, unfortunately.
But the fact that it's not a robbery doesn't mean that it's immediatly because they are copts. I am really curious why this happened. But the problem is that in Egypt we will NEVER find out. The government always tries to hush things with religous sensitivties. In fact, they hush everything up. It's impossible to know anything over there.
I didn't realise the anger the copts felt towards the Muslim Egyptians until I came here. There'a serious underlying issue here that needs to be addressed. I am sick of Egyptians saying that it's "3eib" to talk about these things. If the copts are being mistreated then we need to talk about it. We should give them a safe platform to come out and discuss the issues they face in the country. And that way we can do something about it, and live together in peace. A problem like that cannot be just swept under the carpet. Oh well, I guess it's just business as usual in Egypt
Are you writing yet?
Posts: 174 | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Tigerlily: It wasn't a robbery; otherwise jewelry was missing. These guys were hitmen and specifically ordered to kill most likely the owner - the other dead victims were just at the wrong time at the wrong place, unfortunately.
It could just be a personal vandetta. Perhaps another business owner didn't like how successful this Cleopatra store was doing, gunned them down to improve their own profits.
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posted
Almasry Alyoum reports this morning that several suspects were already arrested in connection with the murders.
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