Mob of Egyptian Muslims Torch Christian Village

A mob of angry Muslims stormed a Christian village last week, torching more than 80 homes and seriously injuring several people.

The brutal attack in Al-Beida started after rumors circulated of a Coptic Christian man building a house church. The Foreign Desk reports that more than 1,000 furious Muslims launched an attack on the man's village, not only targeting him, but every Christian living there.

"A great deal of fanatic Muslims gathered in front of the new house of my cousin, Naim Aziz," Mousa Zarif, a Christian who witnessed the attack, told International Christian Concern.

The attackers made it no secret why they were there.

"They were chanting a slogan against us," Zarif said. "Among these slogans were, 'By no means shall there be a church here.'"

The Christians of Al-Beida do not have a church to call their own so they are forced to walk to another church miles away.

But Naim told Daily News Egypt he was not trying to build a church for the Christian residents of his village. Instead, he was just trying to build a home for him and his family.

The mob destroyed the house and all of the construction materials. They assaulted Naim and his brother, leaving both men seriously injured.

When they were finished attacking Naim, they set their sights on the rest of the Christians in the village.

The mob threw rocks, ransacked homes, and torched any Christian property they could find. Some of the attackers even purposely prayed loud Islamic prayers through loudspeakers pointed at what was left of the Christian homes.

Although the police came to the scene during the attack, they did not protect the Christian families from the violence.

These kinds of attacks are a reality for many other believers in Egypt. According to Open Doors, Christians suffer severe persecution in Egypt. Despite the violence, there is a small but growing community of Muslims coming to Christ.