egypt says it killed 19 militants linked to attack that killed 7 christians creditmahmoud abo eldahabepa via shutterstocknov 4 2018cairo egypt said on sunday that it had killed 19 militants linked to an ambush that left seven christian pilgrims dead as president abdel fattah elsisi scrambled to respond to a surge of christian anger against his governmentthe interior ministry said egyptian forces had killed the militants during a chase through a mountainous area in the desert west of the ancient monastery where gunmen opened fire on three buses filled with pilgrims on fridaysix of the seven pilgrims killed in the attack came from the same extended family coptic orthodox officials saidthe announcement on sunday was accompanied by graphic photographs of bloodied bodies lying in the sand but it offered few details about the circumstances of the raid including its timing or whether the government had experienced any casualtiesegypt routinely publicizes such raids yet questions persist about why the security forces are unable to stop militant attacks outrage over fridays attack the deadliest against christians in almost a year was fanned by the fact that militants carried out a similar ambush at almost the same location in may 2017 killing 28 pilgrimsat a funeral in minya on saturday hundreds of mourners jeered loudly and wagged their fingers after a coptic bishop publicly thanked the security forces and government officialsin the attack on friday gunmen opened fire on three buses soon after they left the monastery of st samuel in the desert south of cairo killing the seven people in one bus and wounding 19 others in total according to coptic church officialsthe islamic state claimed responsibility saying on its amaq news service that the attack had been in retaliation for the arrest of our chaste sisters it did not elaborateegypts state information service called the attack a desperate attempt that showed the groups weakness but it also renewed doubts about the effectiveness of egyptian strategy against the powerful local islamic state affiliate which has expanded beyond its sinai stronghold in recent years to attack christians in churches and major cities and outside monasteriesthe reality is that the islamic state has successfully executed an attack on the same road next to the same monastery one year apart said timothy e kaldas an analyst with the tahrir institute for middle east policy that really calls into question the quality of government efforts to enhance security particularly in minya where the christian minority has been targeted relentlesslyin rome pope francis denounced the violence i pray for the victims pilgrims killed just because they were christian he told worshipers at st peters square on sundaythe attack coincided with the world youth forum a highprofile event that mr sisi hosts every year in the red sea resort of sharm el sheikh and that is an important part of his efforts to soften the image of his authoritarian ruleon sunday morning mr sisi stressed that egyptians should be free to worship as they please and reiterated his