In the early morning hours of Saturday, January 31, masked gunmen stormed the home of Nabil Mahrus, a 50-year-old Coptic Christian civil servant residing in al-Arish, the largest Sinai city.
In front of his family, they went up to the Coptic man and shot him several times in the head, killing him—but only after they had plundered the family and home. According to the slain man’s wife, her husband was murdered “only because he was a Copt [i.e., Christian].”
She pointed out that the masked intruders first robbed everything in sight—including the money in his pockets, the jewelry she was wearing, her handbag, cell phones, and even a Bible.
Then, after plundering everything in sight, and for no other reason than to sate their hate, they shot the Christian in the head, leaving his wife widowed and his children orphaned.