The video of a terrorist group in Egypt with ties to the Islamic State that executes one Coptic Christian and two tribesmen is making the rounds online – as the Interior Ministry on Monday revealed that it had killed three suspects in the killing.
The 13-minute video, released late Saturday, showed 62-year-old Nabil Habashi Salama being shot in the back of the head with an AK-47 in the middle of the Egyptian desert.
Three armed militants with their faces blurred stand behind Habashi Salama, who helped build the only Coptic church in the area while he was killed.
Shortly afterwards, the same three militants took out two tribesmen, accusing them of fighting with the Egyptian army.
The Coptic Orthodox Church represents between 10 and 15 percent of Egypt’s 100 million people.
The Christians, along with Egyptian security forces, were the primary targets of ISIS attacks.
“As for you Christians of Egypt, this is the price you pay for supporting the Egyptian army,” one of the militants said in the video after Habashi Salama said his church worked with law enforcement to fight terrorism.
In a statement released Sunday, a church spokesman confirmed the killing of Habashi Salama and praised him for not abandoning his faith.
“He has maintained the faith until the moment he is killed,” the church said, adding that it “wants to reaffirm its unwavering support for the Egyptian state’s efforts to suppress the terrorist acts.” ‘
Egyptian police said they killed some of the suspects from the video while exchanging gunfire with a group of six Islamic State militants in the Abtal area in northern Sinai province.
Three of the men were not killed and are still wanted by Egypt.
There were no casualties among the security forces.
With Post threads