Copts are again under attack in the Sinai. According to authorities, Dr. Wadi Ramses, owner and surgeon of the region’s first private-run hospital, Ramses Hospital, was abducted by armed members of the Islamic militant group operating in al-Arish last Sunday. They opened fire on his car, wounding him, before snatching him away to an unknown place.
Hours later the kidnappers demanded an exorbitant ransom: 10 million Egyptian pounds, the equivalent of roughly 1.4 million USD.
The military source also added that the Coptic doctor was abducted as a form of retaliation against the army, which the jihadi groups have been unable to confront directly.
Hours later, another Christian merchant, Gamal Shenouda, was also abducted near his home in al-Arish, though no demands for ransom have yet been made.
Such attacks are also retaliatory against Egypt’s Christians: since the Coptic Church—along with tens of millions of Egyptian Muslims—supported the June 30 revolution that saw the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood, Copts have been especially targeted by those seeking “revenge.”
The Christian minority of the region is in a state of terror, many trying to flee. Last year, soon after the overthrow of President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic terrorists in North Sinai went on a Christian killing spree, which included the slaughter of one priest.