Two unidentified gunmen opened fire early Friday on a church in Cairo s Helwan district, killing nine people and injuring five others, Egypt s health and interior ministries said.
Security forces shot dead one of the assailants in an exchange of fire while the other fled, a senior interior ministry official told state news agency MENA.
The attack outside the Mari Mina Church left nine people dead — eight Christians and a Muslim — and five others wounded, health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said in TV comments Friday.
State TV earlier said those killed included at least one policeman. It aired footage of the assailant s body, showing a bearded man wearing an explosive vest lying on the street as crowds gather around.
The other assailant has been arrested in possession of a machinegun, ammunition and a bomb that he aimed to blow up at the church, state TV said.
Cairo s security chief Khaled Abdel Al and a number of security officials headed to the scene of the attack, Al-Ahram added.
The shooting took place as Egyptian Coptic Christians, who make up 10 percent of the country s 93 million population, brace for New Year celebrations.
