POLICEMAN Amer Ashour Abdel-Zaher boarded Carriage Nine of a Cairo-bound train on Tuesday in the southern Egypt town of Samalout, in Minya governorate. He then fired at passengers, killing one and injuring five -- all of them Copts -- before being overpowered by one of the passengers and then arrested by the police. The motives for the attack are not yet known. Yesterday Abdel-Zaher went to the crime scene and re-enacted his crime for investigators. He is to remain in police custody for 15 days pending investigations. Zaher's victims were already on the train, having boarded at Minya, when Zaher entered their carriage at Samalout. The train, number 979, served many small towns around Minya. The dead man was identified as Fathi Mosaad Ebeid, 71. His wife, Emily Hanna, was among the injured, along with Sabah Senyod and her daughters, Marianne and Maggie Zaki and Ihab Ashraf. Coming two weeks after the attack on the Two Saints Church in Alexandria, the shooting has been cited by some as yet another example of sectarian violence. Tens of Copts rallied outside Samalout's Good Shepherd Hospital on Tuesday, where the injured were immediately taken, and clashed with police who used tear gas to disperse the crowds. Minya governor Ahmed Diaaeddin assured that the shooting was not sectarian.
