Update: Saraqna, Assuit: Clarifying news on the killing

Recently news spread of the killing of the mayor of Saraqna, a village in Assuit, and his son-in-law. We have called relatives, as this is my village (of origin), to get more details and I’m sharing some clarifications below. Please take note: this is all information that was given to us personally and not from official sources and it does conflict with other original reports.

• Reports that it was not the mayor who was killed, but one of his relatives. It happened probably on August 20 on their way back from Deir al-Moharraq (Virgin Mary Monastery in Moharraq). Other reports are consistent stating that the mayor was killed himself.
• It is also unclear the motive behind the killing. Report from locals there indicate that the killing does not seem to have sectarian motives behind it. The report is that the man killed was an arms dealer (not the mayor in this case) and the crime seems to be related to that, not sectarian tension. I don’t have news currently on the second person, total number of deaths were two or three.
• The day before this attack, another Christian was kidnapped in Saraqna as well. This also seems unrelated to sectarian tension as this man too was involved in ‘shady dealings.’ He was released after a settlement was made, probably involving a ransom.
• Our family confirmed that things are calm there and they are not having any major problems.

Again, there are conflicting stories about who was killed as well as the motive behind the killing, but just making sure as much information as possible is presented.

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