Muslims, Christians set homes ablaze in Egypt: Fires follow killing of 6 Christians on Coptic Christmas, rape of Muslim girl
The area of Nagaa Hamady, a little north of Luxor in Aegypt, has become in embroiled in violence after the (Coptic) Christmas Eve [Wednesday night] drive-by shooting of six Coptic Christians. Two of the three men held are believed to be related to a Muslim girl who was said to be raped about a month ago by a Copt. In the wake of the shootings, four Muslim shops in a nearby village and four Coptic houses in another have been torched. Demonstrations also yielded several arrests.
Here's hoping for peace to reassert itself. Copts and Muslims have co-existed in Aegypt for many hundreds of years, and I'd like to see this as an isolated incident that will die down. But whenever you get into retaliation violence, there's a tendency for it to escalate first.