by Faith Central & Steve Welsh
“At least seven Coptic Christians were killed and 12 more injured in Egypt when a bus traveling to a desert monastery south of Cairo was ambushed by Islamic militants who opened fire, Egyptian authorities said on Friday. The bus was traveling to the St. Samuel the Confessor monastery November 2, when a number of attackers approached the vehicle from nearby dirt roads and opened fire. …”
“… at least 44 people were killed and more than 100 more were injured in two Palm Sunday suicide attacks at Coptic Christian churches, each carried out by the ISIS terror group. Sunday’s first blast happened at St. George Church in the Nile Delta town of Tanta, where at least 27 people were killed and 78 others wounded, officials said.
Television footage showed the inside of the church, where a large number of people gathered around what appeared to be lifeless, bloody bodies covered with papers. A second explosion – which Egypt’s Interior Ministry says was caused by a suicide bomber who tried to storm St. Mark’s Cathedral in the coastal city of Alexandria — left at least 17 dead, and 48 injured. The attack came just after Pope Tawadros II — leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria — finished services, but aides told local media that he was unharmed. …”
“The Latin Patriarchate of #Jerusalem warned of “serious consequences” from a new law that allows the government to seize private #Palestinian lands where unauthorized #Israeli settlements have been built. …”