After a month and a half month of the two attacks against two Coptic churches which left 45 people dead adopted by the terrorist organization «ISIS» , and one day before the holy month of Ramadan, a stray , criminal group insisted to disturb the atmosphere of joy and celebration experienced by the Egyptians on this precious occasion , a brutal terrorist attack targeted Christian pilgrims headed to the monastery of St Samuel in Minya from Upper Egypt, where masked gunmen killed dozens of people including children, a massacre taken place in the desert of Minya of southern Egypt, in an area not far from scene of previous attacks carried out by that organization . This terrorist act comes to send multiple message on purpose to undermine the Egyptian recovery by targeting the core of Egyptian diversity that is the genuine Christian component.
The attack carried the hallmarks of the terrorist al «Daesh», as it is a continuation of the wave of targeting Christians, which began after the militant group vowed to kill Christians in Egypt, and initiated from El-Arish, where eight Christians were killed, the cause of a Christian exodus from the city. The organization launched after it three suicide bomb attacks on churches targeted major churches that are a symbol of Christianity in several provinces, as well as the way of its implementation is not far from the manner of militant organization of North Sinai . As it occurred in an area where a cell of extremist organization was active that dozens of its members were referred before days to the military Judiciary.
And the attack established the insistence «Daesh» on the targeting of the national fabric in Egypt and provoke Christians against Muslims and authorities in their own country, as the anger came over the hearts of Christians after two suicide attacks last month that targeted churches «Mar Markas» in Alexandria, Coptic Pope’s headquarters in the coastal province, and «St. George »Tanta , the major church in the Delta, caused some 60 people dead, and dozens of people were killed months earlier in a suicide attack on St Peter’s church next to St Mark’s Cathedral church in the heart of Cairo.
Against the background of the attack, and in a quick response President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hold a mini security council to discuss its implications, and called on the House of Representatives to convene an emergency session to discuss possible actions in the future and to activate legislation issued by Parliament in this regard. In a swift response to the terrorist attack, the Egyptian air force carried out in the evening «six strikes focused against terrorist training camps in the Libyan city Derna », according to the statement of Egyptian state television. The high-level sources said that «the Egyptian air force completely destroyed the main center of the Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Derna in Libya», and at late time of yesterday evening the Egyptian army announced that the operation was still ongoing.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced that a «a strike » was directed to the training camp for the elements of extremists, in response to a terrorist attack on a bus of Copts, but he did not specify the place of strike. Egyptian President said after held a security meeting to follow up on the implications of Minya terrorist incident, the task of terrorists in Syria has been finished and now they seek to move to Egypt. He added that extremists seek to bring about a strife between Muslims and Christians in Egypt. He added that the aim of these terrorist attacks is the overthrow of the Egyptian state and targeting its unity, and that the enemies of Egypt are trying to break the cohesion of the state and the cohesion of the Egyptians, as Sisi spoke about the Egyptian army that it destroyed nearly a thousand four-wheel drive vehicle tried to infiltrate from Libya during the two years .Egyptian president added that his country would not hesitate to target terrorist training camps. He stressed that any camp trains terrorists to attack Egypt will be targeted both inside and outside Egypt.
The repeated targeting to Christians in Egypt reflects the insistence of terrorist organizations to expand the scope of its war with the Egyptian state, after it was limited to direct strikes to the army and police, it has become to target the Copts, in an effort to bring about greater internal and external impact. According to security experts, the targeting of Christians in Egypt carry a message that Daesh has bases in Upper Egypt and can implement the unique operations in the provinces of the south. And the organization seeks to confuse the army and police forces so as not to focus on it in the Sinai alone to reduce the pressure of attacks against it there, and thus wants to establish separate groups working with the same approach and the way to show the state in a helpless image of the face.
The followers of the Egyptian affair pointed out that the spread of the Salafi ideology hostile to the Copts in some governorates of Upper Egypt is one of the tools in which the organization Daesh relies upon in its war against the state, and therefore can not face the organization or provide protection for the Copts away from a similar confrontation with the Salafi movement, which feeds extremism and hostility to Christians. Daesh strategy is based on three elements; first is to hit the army and second is targeting the security sites , third the intimidation of Copts, and these elements are to achieve the broad echo and the political messages addressed to the Egyptian government and the global public opinion.
It is worth mentioning that the terrorist incident of Minya to bring back the issue of targeting Christians in Egypt by terrorism to its real context and its foundation that Egypt with all its components have been exposed to a terrorist treacherous stab, and the target is the Egyptian citizen.
Arab Studies Unit