Police find body of abducted Sinai man

The body of an Egyptian man who was reportedly abducted last week was found lying in the street by security forces in Northern Sinai on Thursday, reported state-run Middle East News Agency.

Unknown gunmen had kidnapped 59-year-old electronics dealer Magdi Lam’i outside his Sheikh Zuwayed home six days ago, demanding LE500,000 in ransom from his family, a security official who asked to remain anonymous told MENA.

The incident occurs amid growing unrest in the Sinai peninsula, which the government maintains is a stronghold for what it claims are armed Islamist groups. Security forces there have reported a sudden upswing in attacks on military and police targets as well as Christians since President Mohamed Morsi was removed from office on July 3.

Thirty-nine-year-old Coptic priest Mina Aboud was shot dead by an unknown assailant while walking down the street on Saturday July 6 in a southern neighborhood of Arish. He died on the way to hospital.

A wave of sectarian violence swept the area last year, when in October unknown gunmen shot at the house of a Christian man in the town of Rafah, and opened fire at a nearby store of another. In the same week, leaflets were thrown at the houses of Christians living in the town, threatening them with violence if they didn’t leave, prompting several Christian families to flee their homes.