Copts celebrate Christmas on January 7. It is a festive, yet mournful time, as terror attacks against them increase during their holiday season.
Christmas Season Bittersweet for Copts in Cairo
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A woman named Magda holds up a portrait of her brother and two cousins, each kidnapped and later executed by Islamic State militants in Libya. Terror attacks increase against Copts in correlation with the new year holidays almost every year. (H. Elrasam/V
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Men line up at the barber shop to get their hair cut as they prepare to celebrate the Coptic Christmas in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 6, 2017. (H. Elrasam/VOA)
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Nuns and some Copts, who were attending the mass, are looking inside the “Botrosia” church in the cathedral complex following the blast in Abbassya in Cairo, Dec. 11, 2016. (H. Elrasam/VOA)
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A young garbage collector watches while other children play on swings as they celebrate Coptic Christmas in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 4, 2017. (H. Elrasam/VOA)