Muslim student stabs Coptic nun

Muslim student stabbed and seriously wounded a Coptic novitiate nun inside a church in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria yesterday amid tensions over a theatre performance considered offensive by Muslims, police said.

Father Augustinous, head of the St Gergis church where the attack happened, said the assailant was in his early 20s and stabbed the novitiate nun in her chest with a knife as a prayer service finished.

The victim, in her mid-40s, was in a serious condition after undergoing surgery on her injured lung, Augustinous said.

The incident follows a protest by more than 1000 Muslims outside the church against the distribution of DVD copies of a drama performed inside the church in 2003 entitled I Was Blind but Now I can See.