Muslim mob lays siege to Christian church in Egypt

An Egyptian Coptic Christian diocese says hundreds of Muslim demonstrators have assaulted one of its churches.

The diocese in Atfih said Saturday in a statement that the incident in Giza just outside Cairo took place after Friday prayers when demonstrators gathered outside the building and stormed it.

The demonstrators chanted hostile slogans and called for the church's demolition, the statement says. It says they destroyed the church's contents and assaulted Christians inside before security personnel arrived and dispersed them.

It also said the wounded were transferred to a nearby hospital but didn't elaborate. The church, yet to be sanctioned by the state, has been observing prayers for 15 years.

Coptic Christians make up about 10% of Egypt's 96 million population. Islamic extremists have targeted them in a series of brutal attacks in recent years.

In October, CCTV footage captured the brutal moment a Coptic Orthodox priest was stabbed in the back several times in Egypt's capital, Cairo.

Father Samaan Shehata was collecting humanitarian aid for his parish in Beni Suef on 12 October when a man started chasing him with a large knife. He died from serious stab wounds in hospital later that day.

In May, at least 29 people were killed when the Islamic State (Isis) terror group attacked a bus heading to the Saint Samuel monastery, near Minya.

Another 29 people were killed when an Isis suicide bomber targeted St Mark's Coptic Cathedral in Cairo last December.

In February 2015, Isis circulated images of its militants executing 21 Coptic Christians who had been kidnapped from Sirte, Libya. In response, Egypt launched air strikes targeting Isis positions.