Masked assailants brutally assassinated a Coptic young man in Marsa Matrouh, northwest Egypt. Residents of the city of Al-Dabaa were shocked when unknown masked individuals fired 22 shots at the Coptic man, Rani Raafat, while he was at his workplace. They then set his car on fire and fled the scene. Another young man, identified as Sherif Rashad Abdel Megid, was also injured in the incident. Investigations revealed that the victim worked in the veterinary medicine trade and had no known enemies, although his relatives suspected sectarian motives behind the attack and that the perpetrators might be extremist elements.
Just days earlier, Alexandria experienced the murder of a Coptic priest, who was stabbed by an elderly beggar, Father Arsanios Odieh, as he returned from a beach trip. Bystanders witnessed the elderly beggar approaching the priest and stabbing him in the neck, causing him to lose his life before reaching the hospital. Information disclosed that the accused, named Nahro Abdel Moneim Tawfik, was born in Asyut and had previously been a member of a terrorist group in the 1990s, during which he was imprisoned for his involvement in assassination cases before being admitted to a psychiatric hospital for treatment.
