Seven people were killed and three wounded in an attack on a Coptic church in south Egypt. Coptic Christians were leaving the church in the early hours of Thursday morning, after the Orthodox church's Christmas Eve midnight mass, when shots were fired from a moving car.

There are frequent clashes between Muslims and the Christian minority in southern Egypt. The Copts, who form around ten percent of Egypt's population, complain that they are the victims of discrimination and sometimes even sectarian attacks.

The Coptic church and other orthodox churches across the world use the oriental Julian calendar, which is two weeks behind the western Gregorian calendar and places Christmas day on 7 January.

 Photo: Coptic church in Egypt (flickr / sweet mustache)