ISIS claimed an attack that killed at least 9 people at a Cairo church

The aftermath of an ISIS attack on a Coptic church in Cairo, Egypt.

(Image credit: Stringer/Getty Images)

published 30 December 2017

A local branch of the Islamic State on Saturday claimed responsibility for a Friday attack on a Coptic church in Cairo, Egypt, that killed at least nine people. The church was full for a Friday Mass when a gunman opened fire, shooting at worshippers leaving the building. He was killed by police before he could get inside.

ISIS has killed more than 100 Coptic Christians in Egypt this year, targeting the minority population in a bid to gain new power as it loses territory in Iraq and Syria. President Trump issued a statement in which he "condemned the attack and reiterated that the United States will continue to stand with Egypt in the face of terrorism."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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