Benghazi, Libya. (Wikimedia, Dennixo)
(Morning Star News) – The youngest cousin was carried back home in an ambulance, half dead with a bullet lodged in his skull. The next came back to the village just a month after he left, to be buried in a Coptic cemetery.
Another cousin disappeared in 2012; he is thought to have been taken by Islamic militants and hasn’t been heard from since.
For Christians in Egypt, the word “Benghazi” has become synonymous with death; for them, the seaside capital of Libya and surrounding area have gone from a place where Copts went to pursue better economic opportunities to one where they go and die.
In a quest to rid the city of Christians, Islamic militants have turned the area into a danger zone for Copts. Since March of last year, 13 Egyptian Christians have been killed there. Egyptian newspapers have been full of stories of Copts being arrested without cause, rounded up and executed or gunned down at their workplaces.
For one extended Coptic family in Egypt, the killings aren’t mere headlines; they have suffered the loss of two relatives, and likely a third, to Benghazi gunmen. They are the only extended family in Egypt known to have lost more than one member in Benghazi.
Though members of the family are emotionally torn, they say they have to accept the killings with faith. Noushy Saaed Tawfik, an uncle to one of the killed men, told Morning Star News, “We accept God’s burden upon us, and we accept His will.” READ MORE
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