Hundreds of Christians left the Egyptian town of Al-Arish in northern Sinai after the third Copt in a week was gunned down on 23 February, reportedly by militants linked to so-called Islamic State (IS).
The mass exodus comes after three Coptic Christians were killed in what appears to be the work of militants making good on IS threats issued on a 19 February video promising to rid the country of ‘idolaters’. The latest slaying was the seventh killing of a Copt in Sinai in a month.
Reports differ on how Kamel Youssef was killed but, according to the Associated Press, militants stormed his Al-Arish home then shot and killed him in front of his family. Two days earlier, the body of Saied Hakim, 65, was found late at night in Al-Arish behind a state-run language school, where he was ambushed by masked gunmen. Hakim was shot in the head several times.
