Dozens of Coptic Christians have left North Sinai after a string of extremist attacks killed three Christians in the province, church officials said Friday (February 24th).
On Thursday, suspected "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) elements killed a Coptic Christian in the provincial capital of al-Arish and set his house on fire, the third such attack this week, AFP reported.
Christians have been attacked before in Sinai, but there has been an uptick since ISIL released a video on Sunday calling for violence against them.
The video included an anti-Christian speech by a militant who later detonated an explosive vest in a Coptic church in Cairo on December 11th, killing 29 people.
Church officials said they had received dozens of Copts from Sinai seeking shelter in the Suez Canal city of Ismailya.
On Wednesday, police officials said two Coptic Christians, a father and son, were shot dead behind a school in al-Arish.
