Trump: ‘Terrorists’ who opened fire in Egypt ‘in a war against civilization’

President Trump on Friday condemned masked gunmen who opened fire on a group of Coptic Christians in Egypt as “terrorists.”

“Terrorists are engaged in a war against civilization, and it is up to all who value life to confront and defeat this evil,” Trump said in statement. 

“This merciless slaughter of Christians in Egypt tears at our hearts and grieves our souls. Wherever innocent blood is spilled, a wound is inflicted upon humanity,” he added.

{mosads}“But this attack also steels our resolve to bring nations together for the righteous purpose of crushing the evil organizations of terror, and exposing their depraved, twisted and thuggish ideology.”

Trump added that the U.S. must make clear to its allies that “the treasured and historic Christian Communities of the Middle East” need protection.

“The bloodletting of Christians must end, and all who aid their killers must be punished.”

Masked gunmen attacked a group of Coptic Christians driving to a monastery in southern Egypt on Friday, killing 26 and wounding 25.

The assailants reportedly stopped the group while they were traveling on a road in Egypt’s Minya province.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called an emergency meeting after the incident.

Minya province contains a sizable Christian minority. Coptic Christians comprise roughly 10 percent of Egypt’s population overall.

Trump in April called Sisi to condemn a pair of “heinous terrorist attacks” at Coptic churches in Egypt, after bombs exploded at separate churches in Alexandria and Tanta, killing at least 49 people and injuring more than 100 others.