New York [U.S.], Mar. 9 : Christians in Egypt are fleeing for their lives as they are being hunted down by the ISIS and butchered in their own homes.
The last words 45-year-old Medhat Saad Hakim heard before he was shot in the head on his doorstep last month was "are you a Christian?" The gunmen dragged Hakim's screaming mother outside the house before going back inside and shooting his father dead, reports CNN.
A local affiliate of ISIS has been waging a low-level insurgency in the North Sinai town of Al-Arish in just over a month.
The two killings, followed by another killing 48 hours later, was the signal for the Christian residents to flee the coastal town.
According to researchers and rights groups, Egypt's Christians make up 10% of the population and stand as the largest minority in the Middle East.
Dozens of churches were torched the night the Al-Azhar Sheikh and the Coptic Pope removed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi from power in July 2013.
In a video released on February 19, two months after the December bombing of a Cairo church that killed 29 people, ISIS said the bombing would be followed by many more.
"You are our first target and favorite prey," it said referring to Christians, further calling on its followers to target Christians everywhere and destroy them.
Source: ANI
