Priest shot dead in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula

By Hussein Mahmoud

CAIRO

A Coptic Christian priest on Thursday was shot dead in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, according to a church official and the Interior Ministry.

"Today the church was informed of the martyrdom of priest Rafael Moses, who was shot dead after attending mass at the Church of Mar Girgis in the [northern] city of Al-Arish," Polis Halim, a spokesman for Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, told Anadolu Agency.

He said no other details were available regarding the incident, including the identities of the attack’s perpetrators.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry, for its part, said in a statement that an "unidentified gunman" had opened fire on the priest while the latter had been "repairing his car in the city’s industrial zone".

"He was killed instantly," the statement added. "Security forces have since been deployed to the area."

As of midday local time, no group had claimed responsibility for the shooting.

In a related development the same day, an Egyptian policeman was killed and four others injured when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in northern Sinai, according to the Interior Ministry.

Since Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first freely-elected president, was ousted in a 2013 military coup, Egyptian security forces have waged a fierce campaign in Sinai against what they describe as "terrorist groups".

The campaign, which involves both police and army forces, has been accompanied by frequent attacks on security personnel deployed in the restive peninsula.

The Egyptian authorities say they are battling the "Welayat Sinai" ("Sinai Province") group, which is said to have sworn allegiance to the Daesh terrorist organization.