Copts refuse to leave despite threats

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RAFAH, Egypt, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Coptic Christians in two towns in Egyptian-controlled North Sinai say they refuse to leave despite threats against them and their church's urging to go.

Leaflets were posted on the homes and businesses of seven families in Rafah and Arish, threatening to blow up the properties if they didn't leave, the Cairo newspaper al-Masry al-Youm reported Friday.

Gabriel Habib, a priest at a Coptic church in Arish, quoted one of the residents as saying, "Even if we die, we are not less than the martyrs who paid their lives for the sake of their country and their religion. We are staying among our Muslim neighbors."

Kerolos Victor of the under-archdiocese of North Sinai, said security forces haven't identified those responsible for distributing the leaflets but suspect the incidents are part of the continuing protests against the anti-Muslim film "Innocence of Muslims," which have affected Muslim populations across the Middle East.