Security and church officials say Islamic militants kidnapped two Coptic Christian businessmen in Egypt's volatile Sinai Peninsula in separate incidents.
Officials say that in the first incident, kidnappers opened fire on wealthy surgeon Wadei Ramses' vehicle Saturday, wounding him, and then abducted him in the city of el-Arish. Hours later they demanded a ransom of 10 million Egyptian pounds (USD 1.4 million) officials said.
Today, a Christian merchant named Gamal Shenouda was abducted near his house in el-Arish in daytime, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisals.
Egypt's military has been waging an offensive in Sinai to uproot extremist militant groups who took hold of villages over the past three years. Christians make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's population.
