Cairo: Muslims set fire to homes owned by the family of a Christian man after he was rumoured to have flirted with a Muslim girl in a southern village, Egyptian security officials said on Tuesday.
Police surrounded Al Nawahid village in Qena province and arrested several Muslims after the overnight torching of five homes, a store and a storage place owned by the Coptic Christian family, officials said.
Most of the Muslims who allegedly took part in the incident were relatives of the girl, they added.
Amid occasional flare-ups in Egypt, an anti-Coptic riot broke out last year when villagers torched Coptic homes and attacked a police station after a Copt allegedly raped a Muslim girl, also in Qena.
Gunmen later gunned down six Copts after a Christmas Eve mass in the city of Nagaa Hammadi. A link between the two incidents was not confirmed.
The alleged rapist and three suspected gunmen are standing trial separately.
Coptic Christians make up between six and 10 per cent of Egypt's 80-million people. They complain of discrimination and sectarian attacks.
