Christian churches in Egypt have been burned to the ground by supporters of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi, retaliating from the deadly response by security forces to subsequent protests in the past two days, NewsMax and CNN reported. Muslim Brotherhood supporters tossed firebombs at Mar Gergiss church in Sohag for instance, home to a large Coptic Christian community.
Security officials also said that two other churches in El-Media provinces were damaged by large fires. News reports said that dozens of Christian churches, homes and businesses across the country have been targeted by violence after security forces fired on Morsi supporters in Cairo protest camps on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama has opened condemned the deadly violence throughout Egypt, the Wall Street Journal reported. Obama said the U.S. is canceling plans to hold joint military exercises with the country next month.
The president, currently on vacation, sharply criticized the army's bloody crackdown, which has left at least 525 people dead and 3,717 injured. He also called on the interim government to lift a state of emergency. He instructed the national security team to "assess the implication of the actions taken by the interim government... But while we want to sustain our relationship with Egypt, our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being killed in the streets and rights are being rolled back," he said.
"America cannot determine the future of Egypt. That's a task for the Egyptian people. We don't take sides with any particular party or political figure. I know it's tempting inside of Egypt to blame the United States or the West or some other outside actor for what's gone wrong," Mr. Obama said. "That kind of approach will do nothing to help Egyptians achieve the future that they deserve."
Meanwhile Egypt's ambassador to Britain said the crackdown on Morsi's had was not been excessive, with protesters portraying themselves as victims. Ambassador Ashraf ElKholy told a news conference that some protesters had been armed and that security forces had had every right to respond in the way that they did.
"They (protesters) got what they wanted, they showed they were the victims," he said. When asked whether he was suggesting that some protesters had shot one other, he said: "Yes."
"It shows it's not that simple and innocent," he added.
He said that security forces used teargas and water cannon first and had issued plenty of warnings. The army only responded with live ammunition in self-defense after protesters had opened fire on them, Reuters reported.
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