The Egyptian Ministry of Interior announced on Monday that security forces killed three individuals suspected to be Islamic militants, accused of targeting Christians and involved in the killing of a 62-year-old man in North Sinai. The ministry's statement indicated that the suspected militants were killed in a shootout and are part of a cell planning to attack Christians, their properties, places of worship, and security forces. The statement did not specify when the clash took place.
An Islamic insurgency has been ongoing in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula since the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2013. While large-scale attacks have decreased, militants allied with the Islamic State have changed their tactics in response to a military campaign against them, temporarily overrunning villages near Bir al-Abd last summer.
The Ministry of Interior stated that the targeted cell was involved in the killing of the Christian Nabil Habashi, who was kidnapped in Bir al-Abd in northwest Sinai in November. A video released by the Sinai province of the Islamic State on their Telegram channel on Saturday showed Habashi making a statement that he had been held for three months and 11 days. The footage later portrayed him on his knees in the desert while three armed men in black clothing were seen shooting him.
In recent months, there has been an increase in incidents targeting Christians in western Sinai, including the killing of another civilian and the kidnapping of four, according to the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization concerned with monitoring human rights conditions in the Sinai Peninsula.
