More Egypt Copts flee jihadists in Sinai

Ismailia (Egypt) (AFP) - Egyptian Coptic Christians fled the Sinai for a second day Saturday following a string of apparent jihadist attacks, as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi instructed his government to help shelter them.

A church official said more families arrived in the Suez canal city of Ismailiya, a day after about 250 Copts sought shelter in one church alone there.

Three Christians have been shot dead over the past week in the city of El-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula, where Islamic State group jihadists are waging an insurgency.

Christians have been attacked before in the Sinai, but there has been an uptick since IS released a video on Sunday calling for violence against the minority.

The video included an anti-Christian speech by a militant who later detonated an explosive vest in a Coptic church in Cairo on December 11, killing 29 people.

On Saturday, Sisi emphasised at a meeting with ministers "the importance of confronting all efforts to disturb security and stability in Egypt", a presidency statement said.

He ordered the authorities to help provide accommodation for the Copts fleeing Sinai, the statement added.