ISIS Claiming Responsibility For Murdering Coptic Priest in Sinai

Despicable news emerges from North Sinai as Egypt’s Interior Ministry announced on Thursday that a Coptic Christian priest had been shot and killed in North Sinai.

Early Thursday morning Reverend RoFael Moussa, the priest of the St George Church in Al-Arish, was gunned down by unknown assailants, according to a statement released by the Interior Ministry. Multiple media outlets allege that ISIS, or the group’s Egyptian affiliates, are claiming to be responsible on their social media.

The senseless murder allegedly occurred while Moussa was fixing his car. Later in the day, the Islamic state’s Egyptian affiliated posted online that the priest was killed for ‘fighting Islam’.

As it stands, the authorities have launched an investigation into the murder but haven’t announced any suspects yet. In the wake of the news, Al Ahzar released a statement that the attack violates "all tolerant teachings of Islam and all divine religions and the traditions and norms of humanity that criminalise terrorism in all its forms."