Five killed, five injured in Helwan attack: Health Ministry

CAIRO – 29 December 2017: Five citizens were killed and five others injured in a militant attack attempting to storm a church in Helwan city, southern Cairo on Friday, the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population declared.

Ten equipped ambulances headed to the place of the accident and transferred the injured and the dead to Helwan General Hospital.

Two of the injured were in critical condition, Health Ministry’s spokesman Khaled Mejahed said, pointing out that the necessary medicine and medical supplies are available in the hospital.

The Egyptian Ministry of Interior declared also that two policemen were killed. One of the militants was fatally shot by the police guarding the Church of Great Martyr Mina in Helwan, while the second one managed to escape.

The security forces defused an explosive belt that was fastened around the killed militant's chest.

The attack attempt was thwarted amid high security measures taken by the Ministry of Interior nationwide ahead of Christmas celebrations in Egypt.

All security service departments have made the necessary arrangements to make Christmas celebrations safe and joyous for all Egyptians, the source stated.

The ministry confirmed the importance of intensifying the presence of security forces around public areas and places of worship to be able to deal immediately and decisively with any attempt to disturb the holiday celebrations of Egypt's citizens.

According to the security plans, security forces will apply 800-meter “safe areas” around churches and provide explosive detection devices to counter any attempts to target places of worship, the source added.

Security forces will implement security procedures for all 2,326 churches in Egypt, including all 1,326 Orthodox churches, 1,100 protestant churches and 200 catholic churches.

On December, 11, 2016, a bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo claimed by IS killed 30 people and injured dozens others during Sunday Mass.

In statements following the attack, President Sisi identified the attacker as 22-year-old Mahmoud Shafiq Mohammed Mustafa, who had worn a suicide vest.