Sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians have broken out in towns around Assiut, a city of 400,000 in central Egypt.
A Muslim driver destroyed the front of a store owned by a Coptic Christian in Paisari, according to the Egyptian news site Copts United. During a reconciliation meeting between the Christian and Muslim communities, violence broke out, leaving 10 injured.
Bishop Kyrillos Kamal William Samaan, the Coptic Catholic bishop of Assiut, told the Fides news agency that two Christians were killed on April 29 in clashes near Malafut and that a Coptic entrepreneur had been kidnapped and released following a ransom payment.
