A group of Egyptian Coptic Christians were waiting outside the Virgin Church in Cairo for a bride to arrive for a wedding when men on motorcycles drove by and shot at them on Sunday night, Reuters reported.
Bearded men on motorcycles drove by and fired on the crowd, killing four, among them an eight-year-old girl. Bride Donya Amir Eissa and groom Mena Nashaat survived, Reuters reported.
This most recent attack is deepening the worry for many Egyptian Christians who fear they will be targeted and blamed for the ousting of elected Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July, according to Reuters.
Father Sawiris Boshra who was conducting the ceremony said the gunfire could be heard from inside the church.
"We heard gunfire and ran outside to find people and children lying on the ground swimming in their blood," Father Boshra told Reuters.
Egypt's Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi said such "heinous acts" will not be tolerated, but his words held little comfort for the Coptic Christians who make up 10 percent of Egypt's population, and have been facing extreme attacks across the country, Reuters reported.
Christian shops, homes, schools and monasteries have been destroyed since the anti-coup against Gen. Abdel Fatah el-Sisi and Morsi supporters. Sunday's attacks have heightened Christian's fears of being the Brotherhood's scapegoats since Christians backed of the removal of Morsi, according to Reuters.
Since Morsi's removal, dozens of Christian churches have been torched, but according to Reuters, attacks on the capital have been rare. Officials from the Virgin Church told Reuters they received threats before the shooting and informed police, and although the state also holds the Brotherhood responsible for the attacks on Christians, they have nothing to offer the religious group other than condolences.
"The Interior Ministry is not equipped to station a police car outside each church," a guard at the church compound told Reuters.
The church is located in a lower-class neighborhood of Warak where there are no signs of Muslim-Christian tension, and residents say the neighborhood Muslims would protect Christians during pro-Morsi protests leading some to believe that such solidarity was the real motive behind the shooting, Reuters reported.
"Those who carried out the attack were not only tackling Christians, but both Christians and Muslims, to spread terrorism and make the new state fail," Essam Iskander, supervisor of the church library, told Reuters. "Some of the injured people were Muslims. And many Muslims who sit in a nearby cafe protect the church."
