Gunmen attacked a bus carrying Egyptian Christians south of the capital on Friday, killing at least 24 people, state media and the health ministry said.

Crucifixes and icons are seen at the heavily damaged Church of the Immaculate Conception in Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya), some 30 kilometres east of Mosul, on April 9, 2017, as Christians mark the first Palm Sunday event in the town since Iraqi forces recaptured it from Islamic State (IS) group jihadists.
Qaraqosh, with an overwhelmingly Christian population of around 50,000 before the jihadists took over the area in August 2014, was the largest Christian town in Iraq. / AFP PHOTO

“There are 24 dead,” health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed told state television, adding that 27 people were wounded in the shooting in Minya province.

The attack followed church bombings in December and April claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group that killed dozens of Egypt’s Coptic Christians.

The jihadists threatened more attacks against the Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s 90-million population.

Suicide bombers with the jihadist group struck a Cairo church on December 11, next to the seat of the Coptic pope, killing 29 people.

On April 11, bombers attacked two churches north of Cairo, killing 45 people, in the deadliest strike in living memory against the Copts.

The attacks prompted President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare a three-month state of emergency.