26 Coptic Christians Killed in Egypt on Way to Monastery

26 Coptic Christians were killed and 26 wounded in southern Egypt on Friday when masked gunmen attacked their convoy of two buses and a truck heading to a monastery, according to eyewitnesses and medical sources.

The group was traveling in two buses and a small truck in Minya province, which is home to a sizeable Christian minority, Reuters reported the sources as saying.

Provincial governor Essam al-Bedaiwy said earlier that 23 peoople had been killed and 25 wounded.

Eyewitnesses said the Copts were attacked as they were going to pray at the monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor in the western part of the province.

They said masked men stopped the vehicles on a road leading to the monastery and opened fire.

Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 92 million, have been the subject of a series of deadly attacks in recent months.

About 70 have been killed in bomb attacks on churches in the cities of Cairo, Alexandria and Tanta since December.

Those attacks were claimed by Islamic State. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's attack.

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