An investigator in Alexandria has revealed the mystery of the five Christian citizens killed in Naj’ al-Salām in Burj al-‘Arab of Alexandria Governorate on February 25, 2013. Investigations have confirmed that there are no suspicions of this being a sectarian-motivated crime. Last year a dispute broke out between the guards and the Bedouins over a piece of land, which encouraged a guard to report the incident.

The examination has clarified that a group of masked men in possession of weapons, machine guns, and Kalashnikovs attacked the land from a car and killed the five people. Those killed in the crime were 27-year-old Sāmī ‘Aīd Sūrīyāl, his brother Bishāy, Shenouda, owner of the land, ‘Adil Fāyiz Malāk, and Mahmūd Ahmad Husayn.

The perpetrator is a 21-year-old guard of the land, Taha Mūsá ‘Abd al-Qādir. The investigating officer was able to ambush the perpetrator and arrest him for possession of firearms. After extensive exposure to ill treatment he confessed to having committed the crime (Nashwá Fārūq and Ahmad Badrāwī, al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, Feb. 27, p. 3). Read original text in Arabic.