Cairo: Two Egyptian Christians were killed Monday in an attack targeting a shop selling alcohol in Giza near the Egyptian capital, security sources said.
A gunman riding a mechanised three-wheeler fired with a machine gun at the shop owned by a Christian man in the district of Al Omrani south of Cairo in the early hours of Monday, they added.
Two Christian brothers, who owned an adjoining store, were killed, while the alcohol vendor survived because he was inside his store at the time of the assault, the sources added on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to media.
The assailant escaped arrest.
The attack came three days after a suspected militant killed nine people in shootings on a Coptic church and a nearby store in Cairo’s quarter of Helwan. The terrorist Daesh group claimed responsibility for the attack.
In March, an Egyptian court sentenced an Islamist to death after he was convicted of murdering a Coptic alcohol seller in the coastal city of Alexandria.
Egyptian authorities have recently tightened security around churches across the country ahead of the Coptic Christmas due on January 7.
In April, 48 people were killed in suicide bombings against two Coptic churches in Egypt.
Egypt declared a state of emergency nationwide following the two attacks that were claimed by Daesh.
Christians account for about 10 per cent of Egypt’s population of about 95 million.
