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Cairo
Egyptian security forces have killed three militants believed to be behind the execution of a Christian man in the restive province of North Sinai, the Interior Ministry said on Monday.
The Islamic State extremist group published a video on Saturday evening showing three of its members in Sinai executing a Christian man.
In the video, the man identifies himself as Nabil Habashi Salama, 62, who had been kidnapped by Islamic State militants more than three months ago. The Interior Ministry said information gathered revealed that three men, who are part of a “very dangerous cell” involved in the killing of Salama, were present in the al-Abtal area in northern Sinai.
They were planning further attacks targeting Christian individuals, properties and churches as well as police and army positions.
Police besieged the three while driving a car. The militants fired at the security forces, who fired back killing all three, the ministry said in a statement. The exchange of fire led an explosive belt one of the three militants was wearing to explode.
Security forces found three automatic weapons, one explosive belt and one hand grenade with the militants.
Two of the three have been identified. One of them “is considered one of the most dangerous terrorist elements who planned and carried out many terrorist incidents in the North Sinai province and was in charge of providing logistical support to terrorist elements,” the statement said.
Security forces are pursuing three other members of the cell, who have been identified and were involved in the killing of Salama. In the video, posted on Islamic State-affiliated channels on Telegram, Salama said he is a jeweller from Bir al-Abd town in Sinai and that he helped build an Orthodox church there.
Afterwards, he is shown kneeling on the ground and three militants stand behind him, with their faces blurred.
One of the militants then shot Salama in the back of his head and said that this is a warning to all Christians worldwide and to Egypt’s Coptic Christians in particular, to show the result of supporting the army.
Egypt’s Coptic church and the Christian minority backed the toppling of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013 by Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, the-then army chief. Sissi has been president since 2014.
The northern part of the Sinai Peninsula has seen deadly militant attacks since Morsi was toppled.
According to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), Salama was abducted on November 8 when three militants kidnapped him near his home in Bir al-Abd at night. His son filed a police report then.
Christians in northern Sinai have been targeted for almost a decade and many of them were forced to escape their homes, especially in 2017 when attacks intensified.
The EIPR on Monday urged authorities to “assume their responsibilities to protect the Copts who did not leave North Sinai, those who have returned, or those who want to return to their home.”
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20/04/2021
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