Coptic protest in Los Angeles
Coptic protest in Los AngelesIsrael News Photo: www.amcoptic.com.jpg

Amid ongoing sectarian violence in Egypt, 10-year-old Jessica Boulous was murdered last Tuesday after walking home from her Bible lesson with her teacher. She was gunned down on the street between Ahmed Esmat Street Evangelical Church and a market while walking home, Morning Star News reports.

A report by Egyptian rights activists claim that Jessica’s teacher stepped into a market and while her back was turned, Jessica was shot in the chest, the bullet pierced her heart and she died instantly.  

The gunman has not been identified and no one has yet claimed responsibility over the attack. But Islamic intimidation and attacks against Christians “seems to be normal” in Egypt, said Nasr Allah Zakaria, Jessica’s uncle.

Zakaria, pastor of an evangelical church in Egypt, says that her family is devastated over the killing.

He added that strangely, Jessica was concerned about the violence as she watched many protests on television and urged her parents to get involved. At the same time she was afraid enough for her safety and asked her Sunday school teacher to escort her home from Bible school.

Egyptian rights activists have condemned Morsi supporters for making the minority Coptic Christians the scapegoat for their anger at the ouster of the Islamist president. A spokeswoman for Maspero Students Union, Mina Thabet, warned things could get even worse in Egypt.