CAIRO (Dispatches) -- Masked gunmen attacked a bus carrying Coptic Christians on a visit to a monastery south of the Egyptian capital on Friday, killing at least 26 people including many children, officials said.
The assailants in three pick-up trucks attacked the bus as it carried visitors to the Saint Samuel monastery in Minya province, more than 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Cairo, before fleeing, the interior ministry said.
It was the latest attack on Copts after Daesh terrorists bombed three churches in December and April, killing dozens of Christians.
Pictures of the bus aired by state television showed the vehicle riddled with machine-gun fire and its windows shot out.
State television quoted a health ministry official as saying a "large number" of the victims were children. "They used automatic weapons," Minya governor Essam el-Bedawi told state television.
Bedawi said police were fanning out along the road where the attack took place and had set up checkpoints. Health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said 26 people were killed and another 25 wounded.
The latest attack came after Takfiri extremists had threatened more strikes against the Copts, who make up about 10% of Egypt's 90-million population.
In a statement on its spokesman's Facebook page, the Coptic Church called for "measures to be taken to prevent the dangers of those incidents that tarnish Egypt's image".
Suicide bombers with the Takfiri group struck a Cairo church on December 11, next to the seat of the Coptic pope, killing 29 people.
On April 11, bombers attacked two churches north of Cairo on Palm Sunday, killing 45 people, in the deadliest strike in living memory against the Copts.
The bombings prompted President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare a three-month state of emergency.
The Egyptian affiliate of Daesh has also killed several Copts in North Sinai, forcing dozens of families to flee the province in January.
Friday's shooting came after a historic visit to Egypt by Roman Catholic Pope Francis to show solidarity with the country's Christians.
Al-Azhar, Egypt's top religious authority, condemned Friday's shooting which took place on the eve of the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"The Minya incident is unacceptable to Muslims and Christians and it targets Egypt's stability," Al-Azhar's Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb said in a statement.
Sisi has defended the performance of his security forces and accused extremists of trying to divide Egyptian society by attacking vulnerable minorities.