One person has been killed and at least 12 others injured by knife-wielding attackers at three churches in northern Egypt, police have said. The attacks happened in Coptic churches in the city of Alexandria. The simultaneous incidents took place during Friday Mass, and the attackers fled immediately afterwards. Witnesses said clashes erupted between Christians and Muslims outside the churches, the Associated Press news agency reported. Hundreds of Christians had gathered outside the churches in protest at the attacks, the agency said. Police were reported to be searching for three assailants, one for each attack.
Witnesses said that at least one attacker had been detained, but no arrests have been confirmed. An employee at one of the churches told the AFP news agency that people inside the church had fought back with sticks, but that the attacker had tried to escape through an underground passage.
Most Christians in Egypt are Copts - Christians descended from the ancient Egyptians. Their church split from the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches in 451AD because of a theological dispute over the nature of Christ, but is now, on most issues, doctrinally similar to the Eastern Orthodox church.
Copts make up an estimated 10% of the Egyptian population of about 70 million, and they complain of discrimination and harassment. They are concerned that new electoral rules are benefiting Islamist parties but not increasing Coptic political representation. Three people died in Alexandria in October 2005 after Muslim demonstrators attacked a church which had put on a play seen as offensive to Islam.