Police are hunting for gunmen who shot dead four Copts at a church wedding, in the first assault targeting Christians in Cairo since the ouster of Egypt's Islamist president.
Two girls aged eight and 12 were among those killed in Sunday's attack at the Church of the Virgin in Cairo's working class neighbourhood of Al-Warrak, officials say.
The four victims belonged to one family, relatives said.
Seventeen others were wounded in the attack.
Witnesses recounted how celebrations quickly turned into horror as the attackers sped towards the wedding party on a motorbike, sprayed the crowd with bullets and fled.
"It's unfair. This isn't acceptable in any religion," cried Layla Ezzat, a survivor who like many others returned to the scene of the attack to grieve.
Worshipper Ayman Moussa said there had been no security at the church since June, despite several attacks against Copts around the country in the wake of president Mohamed Morsi's July 3 ouster by the army.
The community was left reeling by the attack.
"We as Copts are paying the price of Morsi's ouster. We are targeted. We no longer feel safe anywhere," said Iman Girguis, 40.
The interior ministry listed two attackers but some witnesses spoke of three.
"Three masked men on a motorbike approached us. Two opened fire on us and then everything turned to blood and chaos," said Moawad Wagih, 40, speaking outside the morgue where the bodies were taken.
Ahmed al-Ansari, the head of ambulance services, said four people were killed and 17 were wounded, updating an earlier toll. A morgue official said all those killed were Copts.
Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi condemned the attack, calling it a "despicable criminal act", and said security forces were searching for the assailants.
