Copt killed and 5 others wounded in a train shooting in Samalout, Egypt

A gunman boarded a train in Samalout (Southern Egypt) and opened fire on Tuesday, killing a Copt and wounding five others

A gunman boarded a train in Samalout, southern Egypt and opened fire on Tuesday, killing a Copt and wounding five others -- four women and a man, security officials told Ahram Online.

The gunman, who was in uniform and identified as policeman Amer Ashour Abdel-Zaher, entered one of the passenger carriages and started shooting with his police gun randomly before he was arrested in the train station. He is currently being interrogated.

No motive was immediately known for the shooting. Officials said the gunman boarded the Cairo-bound train number 979 at the town of Samalout in Egypt's central Minya province. He was heading to Beni Mazar town in Minya.

The victim was identified by security as Fathi Mosaad Ebeid, 71 years old. The injured are Emily Hanna, Sabah Senyod, Marianne Zaki, Maggie Labib and Nehad Ashraf.

Later, witnesses said hundreds of Copts rallied outside Salamut's Good Shepherd hospital, where the wounded had been taken, and clashed with police, who fired tear gas at them.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/3680/Egypt/Politics-/Copt-killed-and--others-wounded-in-a-train-shootin.aspx

Pope's call for Middle East to protect Christians sparks Egypt fury

Cairo recalls ambassador to the Vatican after what it deems 'unacceptable interference' in foreign affairs

Pope Benedict XVI was tonight at the centre of a new diplomatic storm after Egypt recalled its ambassador to the Vatican in protest at the pontiff's call for Middle Eastern governments to do more to protect their Christian minorities.

Cairo's dramatic reaction came amid reports of a further attack in Egypt in which a Christian died. The interior ministry said an off-duty policeman boarded a train in southern Egypt and opened fire, killing a 71-year-old man and wounding five other Christians, including the dead man's wife. The attack raises fears of a new wave of rioting by Christians still mourning the deaths of at least 21 worshippers as they were leaving mass at a Coptic church in Alexandria on New Year's Eve.

In a statement, a spokesman for the foreign ministry said Cairo's ambassador had been called back for consultations "after the Vatican's new statements that touch on Egyptian affairs and which Egypt considers an unacceptable interference in its internal affairs".

In a speech to diplomats accredited to the Holy See on Monday, the pope said the Alexandria bombing, coming after a string of attacks in Iraq, showed "the urgent need for the governments of the region to adopt, in spite of difficulties and dangers, effective measures for the protection of religious minorities".

Quoting from a message agreed by a synod of bishops last year that discussed the situation of Christians in the Middle East, the pope said they were loyal citizens who were entitled to "enjoy all the rights of citizenship, freedom of conscience, freedom of worship and freedom in education, teaching and the use of the mass media". He also praised European countries who had asked for action by the European Union to protect Middle Eastern Christians.

The foreign ministry's protest was echoed by Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayyib, the imam of the Al-Azhar, the leading institute of Islamic learning in the Sunni Muslim world. He said: "Protection of Christians is an internal affair and should be carried out by the governments as [Christians] are their citizens like other citizens." He added: "We reiterate our rejection of foreign interference in the internal affairs of Arab and Islamic countries under whatever pretexts."

In Rome, a senior Vatican official, said Egypt's reaction was "the proof that the things said by the pope have hit the mark". Monsignor Jean-Louis Bruguès, stressed he was speaking in a personal capacity.

John Hooper in Rome
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 11 January 2011 20.34 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/11/pope-middle-east-christians-egypt

Egypt recalls Vatican ambassador over Pope's remarks

Egypt has recalled its ambassador to the Vatican for consultation after Pope Benedict XVI urged the country to do more to protect its Christian minority.

In an address to ambassadors at the Vatican on Monday, the Pope cited recent attacks on Christians in Egypt and Iraq.

An Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman said the remarks were "unacceptable".

A bomb attack on a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria on New Year's Eve killed 23 people.

"Egypt asked its ambassador in the Vatican to come to Cairo for consultation after the Vatican's new statements that touch on Egyptian affairs, and which Egypt considers an unacceptable interference in its internal affairs," foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said in a statement.

There was no immediate official response from the Vatican. However, a Vatican source told AFP news agency that the recall did not constitute "a break in diplomatic relations".

In his address on Monday, the Pope condemned anti-Christian attacks in Egypt and Iraq, saying they showed "the urgent need for governments of the region to adopt... effective measures for the protection of religious minorities".

He also called on Pakistan to repeal its blasphemy laws, which can carry a death sentence for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

It was not the first time the Pope had spoken out over the plight of Christian minorities in the Middle East.

In his traditional Christmas Day message - the Urbi et Orbi - he called for political leaders in the region to show solidarity with Christians.

And a day after the attack on the Coptic church in Alexandria, he appealed for the "concrete and constant engagement of leaders of nations" in what he called a "difficult mission".

On Sunday in an address in St Peter's Square, Rome, the Pope voiced solidarity with Egypt's Copts, saying: "I salute the Coptic faithful present here to whom I renew my expression of closeness."

Egypt's Coptic Christian minority makes up between 7% and 14% of Egypt's 80 million people.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12164696