Ten dead in violent clashes between Christians and Muslims in Egypt

Egypt’s health minister Dr Ashraf Hatem said on Wednesday that ten people had been killed in the violence and around 90 wounded.

The clashes broke out on Tuesday afternoon as around 1,000 Christians protested the burning of a church last week.

A Coptic priest said on Wednesday that six Coptic Christians had been killed in the clashes in the relatively poor district of Moqattam in Cairo.

According to Agence France Presse news agency, a Muslim resident of Moqattam was killed whilst trying to protect his Christian neighbours.

The church in the village of Bromil was burnt down by Muslims reportedly angry over the relationship between a Christian man and a Muslim woman.

The Muslim woman’s father was reportedly murdered by his cousin because he did not kill his daughter to preserve the family’s honour. The woman’s brother is believed to have sought revenge by killing the cousin.

Muslims in the village reportedly blamed the deaths on local Christians and proceeded to burn down the church.

The violence comes just weeks after the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak and is testing the military’s ability to maintain order.

The military council has ordered the reconstruction of the church in Soul and vowed to hold to account the perpetrators of the arson attack.

According to CNN, armed services spokesman Mohamed Askar has launched an investigation into the violence.

He said that those involved in “the incitement of sectarian hatred or involved in the acts of violence” would be held accountable “to the full extent of the law”.