A Coptic clergyman examines the damages at the scene inside the St. Mark Cathedral in central Cairo, following a bombing, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016. The blast at Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral killed dozens of people and wounded many others on (Photo: AP)
Egypt's interior ministry has announced that a man suspected of involvement in the deadly armed attack on Christian pilgrims in Minya in May was killed during a police shootout.
A statement published on the ministry's official Facebook page announced that the suspect was killed on Wednesday night during a shootout with police forces in the hilly area of Qena governorate in Upper Egypt.
In May, armed men attacked buses carrying Coptic Christians to a monastery in Minya governorate. Thirty people were killed and at least 21 injured.
The suspect is a member of a terrorist cell that was involved in the attacks on the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Cairo last December, the Palm Sunday attacks on churches in Tanta and Alexandria, an attack on El-Nakab checkpoint in Wadi Gadid in January, as well as the Minya attack on pilgrims, the statement said.
Egypt is battling Islamist militant groups that are mainly concentrated in the restive northern part of Sinai.
However, militants have also carried out deadly attacks against security forces in other parts of the country, including the capital.
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