CAIRO: Masked gunmen opened fire on a cafe south of the Egyptian capital, killing three people, security officials said Sunday.
The attack, which took place overnight in the village of Al-Ayat about 50 km from Cairo, left at least five others wounded, they said.
While the motivation was unclear officials suspect it was a criminal incident rather than terrorism.
State-run newspaper Akhbar Al-Youm, citing witnesses, said two attackers arrived on a motorcycle and opened fire on people in the cafe before fleeing.
Security officials arrived at the scene and also interviewed injured people in hospital to try to identify and arrest the attackers, the newspaper reported.
Separately, hundreds of demonstrators attacked an unlicensed church south of Cairo wounding three people, an Egyptian Coptic Christian diocese said on Saturday.
The incident took place after Friday prayers when demonstrators gathered outside the building and stormed it. The demonstrators chanted hostile slogans and called for the church’s demolition, a source said. The demonstrators destroyed the church’s contents and assaulted Christians inside before security personnel arrived and dispersed them.
The wounded were transferred to a nearby hospital, the diocese said after the attack, without elaborating.
A media coordinator at the diocese, the Rev. Yehnes Youssef, said later on Saturday that three Copts were wounded but have been treated.
Gunmen kill 3 at cafe south of Cairo
Gunmen kill 3 at cafe south of Cairo
