Unknown militants killed a priest in north Sinai on Saturday, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported.
The thirty-nine year old priest, Mina Aboud, was walking in the street in a neighborhood south of Arish when he was shot. He had died as he was transferred to hospital.
On going violence has been taking place in Sinai amidst clashes spreading in the country between supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi and their opponents. Morsi was ousted from his post on Wednesday following a military declaration deposing him after mass street protests calling for his departure.
On Friday, unknown assailants attacked five police and military checkpoints and killed a conscript in North Sinai. Later in the day, masked gunmen on motorbikes killed two policemen. On Saturday morning, another attack was waged on three military checkpoints in the area.
The sectarian face of the scattered violence since Morsi`s ouster was also manifested in an attack on a church in Luxor on Wednesday, whereby Morsi supporters threw stones at the building, prompting clashes with surrounding residents. Also on Wednesday, a group of Morsi supporters attacked a building affiliated with a church in a village near Minya, shortly after news about the president`s ouster circulated. Media reports say that the group allegedly stormed the building, stole some items and set parts of it on fire.
Attacks on military and police targets in North Sinai have been recurrent, but also a string of sectarian violence took place in the area when in October, unknown gunmen shot at the house of a Christian man in the town of Rafah and opened fire at a nearby store of another Christian man. In the same week, leaflets were thrown at the houses of Christians living in the area, threatening them of violence and calling on them to leave. Some families opted to leave for fear of further violence.
[This article originally appeared on Mada Masr.]