Egyptian-Coptic couple murdered in their beds on Christmas Eve

A Coptic Christian couple were murdered in their own beds the evening before Christmas - the second attack on Christians in Egypt in two days.

Jamal Sami, 60, and his wife Nadia, 48, were reportedly stabbed in a similar manner to the murder of Youssef Lamei, a Christian alcohol-shop owner who had his throat cut in front of his own shop yesterday.

The incident occurred in the village of Tukh Dalakah, located in the northern governorate of Monufia, reported Egyptian website The New Day.

According to one police source, two men known only as Mohammad M. and Abd al-Aziz Q. are believed to be the prime suspects.

The police had not isolated any motive for the twin murder by the time of publication, but it is understood that the two men did not know their victims.

There has been a rise in violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt in recent months, which has been connected to a rise in Islamist violence by Islamic State extremists in North Sinai.

An IS suicide bomber killed 26 people in an attack on the St Mark's coptic cathedral in Cairo on December 11, the most deadly attack on Egypt's minority group in recent years.

Copts make up 10 percent of the country's population of 90 million and celebrate Christmas on January 7.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights has recorded at least 77 attacks on Coptic Christians between 2011 and 2016 in Minya, a governorate south of Cairo containing at least a third of Egypt's Christian population.