Reading this CNN story you get the idea that anyone who runs around stabbing Coptic Christians is just nuts.

CNN : A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, characterized the men as "insane" and said they were carrying tranquilizing medication.

One worshipper, Nushi Atta Girgis, 78, was killed, according to the semiofficial Middle East News Agency.

Father Augustinos, who heads a different Mar Girgis Church, said the attacks occurred just after Mass began at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT).

"They could be Islamic activists. They consider this as jihad," he said of the attackers, who broke through regularly stationed security barriers and police to enter the churches.

Times Online UK :"The attacker stormed the church armed with a knife and shouted Â’There is no God but AllahÂ’ and Â’Allah is the greatestÂ’ before stabbing the worshippers," one of the Marie Girgis church employees told an AFP reporter at the scene.

"We closed the doors of the church as soon as he started attacking the worshippers and we fought back with sticks but he tried to flee through one of the churchÂ’s underground passages."

Father Augustinos, who heads a different Mari Girgis Church, said the attacks occurred just after Mass began at 9am (0700 GMT). "They could be Islamic activists. They consider this as jihad," he said of the attackers, who broke through regularly stationed security barriers and police to enter the churches.

The attack comes on what is Good Friday to many of the worldÂ’s Christians. However, EgyptÂ’s Coptic Christians and other followers of the Greek Orthodox church commemorate the holiday a week later.

But Abdullah Osman, an official with the ruling National Democratic Party, questioned the sanity of the attackers.

Posted by: Howie at 10:10 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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