Egypt's Ministry of Interior said Thursday that police have killed seven terrorists involved in recent attacks on churches and Christians during raids on training camps in Giza and Upper Egypt. The raids, which started at dawn, initially targeted the Western Desert in Assiut where militants where training in camps and hideouts to execute further attacks during the upcoming period, the ministry said. The militants were killed after a shootout with police forces, who seized large amounts of guns, ammunition, and IEDs. The ministry said it is working on identifying the slain militants and that the State Security Prosecution will carry out further investigations. Christians, who make up about one tenth of Egypt's population of more than 92 million, have been the subjects of several terrorist attacks in recent months. In December 2016, a suicide bomber killed 29 worshippers at a Cairo church. On Palm Sunday, twin suicide bombings on churches in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria killed 47 people. In May, armed men attacked buses carrying Christian worshippers in Upper Egypt's Minya governorate, killing 30. Daesh claimed responsibility for all four attacks.
