Egyptian Christians have requested our prayers following a shooting incident outside a church in southern Egypt.
The incident happened in the early hours of last Thursday morning (7 January), when the Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas. Worshippers were leaving a Christmas Eve midnight service when two vehicles approached a Coptic church in Nag Hammadi, 40 miles from Luxor. Gunfire was sprayed into the crowd and seven people were killed – six Christians and a Muslim security guard. Ten others were injured, including two Muslim passers-by.
Fighting then broke out on the morning of 7 January when police tried to disperse a large crowd of Christians gathered outside the local hospital. There are reports of shots having been fired into the air and of at least two people being injured.
Egyptian Christians request our prayers that: