Please bear in mind that although the below relates to a Christmas Eve massacre, the Christian Copts, rather like the Orthodox Christians, celebrate Christmas acording to the rules of the Julian calandar and so Christmas day is today (7th January), therefore, this atrocity happened last night.

BBC

At least six Coptic Christians and a security official have been killed in a drive-by shooting outside a church in southern Egypt, officials say.

The shooting came as worshippers left the church in Naj Hammadi after a midnight mass on Coptic Christmas Eve.

A car pulled up and gunfire was sprayed into the crowd.

Officials say they suspect the attack is in revenge for the rape of a 12-year-old Muslim girl by a Christian man in the town in November.

There were five days of riots in the town, with Christian properties torched and damaged, following the rape.

The church’s Bishop Kirollos said there had been threats in the days leading up to the Christmas Eve service – a reason he decided to end his mass an hour earlier than normal.

“For days, I had expected something to happen on Christmas Eve,” he told the Associated Press.

He said he left the church minutes before the attack.

“A driving car swerved near me, so I took the back door,” he said. “By the time I shook hands with someone at the gate, I heard the mayhem, lots of machine-gun shots.”

Two Muslim passers-by were among 10 people reportedly injured in the attack.

Naj Hammadi is 40 miles (64km) from Luxor, southern Egypt’s biggest city.

Coptic Christians account for about 10% of the Egypt’s population of 80 million.

There are sporadic clashes between Muslims and Christians, particularly in poor, conservative areas of Upper Egypt, the BBC’s Yolande Knell in Cairo reports.