Again it is one of those mornings, one of those Fridays that you woke up to find a massacre taken place in the south of the country and you want to go back to the bed again praying that this is an awful nightmare.
At 11 AM Cairo Local time "CLT" at that the same time millions of Egyptian Muslims were on their way to Friday prayers , a group of masked militants came on three 4x4 Cars and opened their fire randomly on a bus carrying Christian citizens at the desert western of Minya governorate' Idwa city according to the first official statement issued by Egypt's Ministry of Interior "MOI" at 1:28 PM CLT.
The MOI added that as security forces reached the attack's scene, it turned out that it happened at one of the desert sub-routes heading to Saint Samuel the Confessor monastery, which is 60 km away from the city of Maghagha , North of Minya in the heart of the Western Desert.
It also stated up till then 26 Egyptian Christians were killed and other were injured.
Already we have known before that at least 26 people were killed while 25 others were injured. The victims included lots of children.
It turned out that it was not a bus but rather a convoy of Egyptian Christians heading to the 7th-century monastery.
A bus carrying worshipers from neighbor Bani Suef governorate as well a microbus carrying worshipers from Minya's villages headed were in their way when they were stopped by the militants.
According to eyewitnesses accounts that I have been reading all day and the MOI's statement, militants came on three 4x4 Cars and hell started.
First, they reportedly asked the passengers if they were Muslims or not then asked them to convert to Islam but the passengers said no.
Opening their fire at point blank in some cases, I just can't imagine the carnage that happened on the sand in that morning. They took the money and the gold jewelry of the women.
After the first attack according to Reuters report, it seems that one of the 4x4 vehicles had a flat tire and the militants stopped a truck carrying Christian workers heading to the monastery.
They killed them and took the vehicle where they vanished into the desert.
What is even scarier is that even children were killed. The youngest one was 2 years old.
Throughout the day, the bodies of the victims were taken to local churches in Minya where they had funerals and buried.
The families of the victims protested and demanded the dismissal of the interior minister. The security forces dispersed in no time as usual.
After several hours of the attack, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah held an emergency meeting for the National Defense Council in Cairo.
Following the meeting and surrounded with standing army and state men, El-Sisi addressed the Egyptian people declaring that Egypt once again carried out an airstrike on terror camps. He also called "his Excellency President Donald Trump" to wage a war on terrorism as his first priority.
He also revealed in that on-air speech that not less 1000 vehicle passed through Libya to Egypt illegally through the Western desert and that Egyptian armed forces destroyed about 300 vehicles in the past two months only.
At the same time, unknown senior sources told State-owned MENA that the Egyptian air forces launched a strike on targets in Darna, eastern Libya. The Libyans confirmed as well.
Up till now, no militant group has claimed its responsibility for the attack but it has Daesh's prints all over it.
Tonight is Ramadan eve.
The official reactions look more of a Deja vu to me
I feel so angry and exhausted.
Tomorrow inshallah, I will publish a post about some remarks concerning the attack.
At 11 AM Cairo Local time "CLT" at that the same time millions of Egyptian Muslims were on their way to Friday prayers , a group of masked militants came on three 4x4 Cars and opened their fire randomly on a bus carrying Christian citizens at the desert western of Minya governorate' Idwa city according to the first official statement issued by Egypt's Ministry of Interior "MOI" at 1:28 PM CLT.
The MOI added that as security forces reached the attack's scene, it turned out that it happened at one of the desert sub-routes heading to Saint Samuel the Confessor monastery, which is 60 km away from the city of Maghagha , North of Minya in the heart of the Western Desert.
 |
| Two monks watching the attack scene "Reuters" |
Already we have known before that at least 26 people were killed while 25 others were injured. The victims included lots of children.
It turned out that it was not a bus but rather a convoy of Egyptian Christians heading to the 7th-century monastery.
A bus carrying worshipers from neighbor Bani Suef governorate as well a microbus carrying worshipers from Minya's villages headed were in their way when they were stopped by the militants.
According to eyewitnesses accounts that I have been reading all day and the MOI's statement, militants came on three 4x4 Cars and hell started.
First, they reportedly asked the passengers if they were Muslims or not then asked them to convert to Islam but the passengers said no.
Opening their fire at point blank in some cases, I just can't imagine the carnage that happened on the sand in that morning. They took the money and the gold jewelry of the women.
After the first attack according to Reuters report, it seems that one of the 4x4 vehicles had a flat tire and the militants stopped a truck carrying Christian workers heading to the monastery.
They killed them and took the vehicle where they vanished into the desert.
What is even scarier is that even children were killed. The youngest one was 2 years old.
Throughout the day, the bodies of the victims were taken to local churches in Minya where they had funerals and buried.
The families of the victims protested and demanded the dismissal of the interior minister. The security forces dispersed in no time as usual.
After several hours of the attack, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah held an emergency meeting for the National Defense Council in Cairo.
Following the meeting and surrounded with standing army and state men, El-Sisi addressed the Egyptian people declaring that Egypt once again carried out an airstrike on terror camps. He also called "his Excellency President Donald Trump" to wage a war on terrorism as his first priority.
He also revealed in that on-air speech that not less 1000 vehicle passed through Libya to Egypt illegally through the Western desert and that Egyptian armed forces destroyed about 300 vehicles in the past two months only.
 |
| Sisi and members of National Defense Council "Egyptian presidency" |
Up till now, no militant group has claimed its responsibility for the attack but it has Daesh's prints all over it.
Tonight is Ramadan eve.
The official reactions look more of a Deja vu to me
I feel so angry and exhausted.
Tomorrow inshallah, I will publish a post about some remarks concerning the attack.
 |
| From the funeral of the victims Friday night "Reuters" |
The president would have shown more leadership and decisiveness by giving ISIS the finger (Khaled Ali style) than with his empty and senseless rhetoric
ReplyDeleteThe intense Egyptian military intervention in Libya appears to be pre-decided and pre-planned. There is no material proof linking the bombing target to attackers in Menya. The result of the massacre actually serves the regime both local and foreign interests.
ReplyDeleteCould it be an inside job? This can’t be ruled out especially when the president was the inelegance chief. After all, it was done many times before.
Unbelievably sad :(
ReplyDeleteThe main point of the intervention is to pretend that the Egyptian government is doing something about the threat. It was getting too obvious that they lied about resolving the security problem, so they needed to do something that could potentially alleviate negative judgments against their failures. Waging a murky a deceit-filled campaign in Libya was their choice.
ReplyDeleteBy remaining utterly opaque about what is going on, they hope to keep people confused about the situation.
Orange Ketchup: What makes you think it was deceitful? Any proof of this?
ReplyDelete(green mustard)
The Egyptian government has not yet presented clear evidence that the Minya terrorist attack was connected to the DMSC in Derna, Libya. While it is impossible to definitively prove or disprove their assertions due to the lack of information available, a murky intervention in a nearby state is suspiciously useful as a means of diffusing anger at the government’s handling of the terrorist threat.
DeleteWhile the Derna Mujaheddin Shura Council is an extreme organization, expending resources fighting it and boosting the siege of Derna to aid Haftar is a questionable plan if the DMSC was not actually involved in the attack. The domestic problem of extremism and violence needs to be addressed in a more comprehensive fashion first. The Egyptian government has also helped destabilize and harm Libya and Yemen through the aiding of proxy forces, a huge number of which are allied with Salafists of various kinds.
There have been several cases where the Egyptian government was not truthful about sectarian (or partially sectarian) violence. The Maspero Massacre was one, another was the killing of Giulio Regini.
The fact that ISIS claimed responsibility makes it seem less likely that forces in Derna were involved.
DeleteThanks for your lengthier explanation. But when it comes to ISIS and taking responsibility, it is said that they cannot be trusted because they will take responsibility when they were not involved. I heard this on the news coverage coming out of London over the weekend, the latest 3 fake suicide bombers. (what they had around their waist, was not real) but they are nevertheless now shot dead along with their victims whom they stabbed. According to the Homeland Security people, they said ISIS will take credit even when they are not involved. Makes it difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.
ReplyDeleteThey should be honest and tell the world they arrested those who killed and tortured Giulio Regini. No one believes a lie. Well, most do not. How about the Polish girl? Has that been definitivly determined yet as to why she died. A very strange case. But I don't believe it is Egyptians either, as they had Ukranian men working at the resort, and the girl may have jumped herself if she was drugged.
ReplyDelete